I used to read books all the way through, regardless of how much I was enjoying it.
It was a point of honor, I guess, or a belief that character was being built (or proven).
Screw that. If you haven’t hooked me by the time I’ve finished, let’s say, a third of the thing, then you’re gone. A third might be too much for a really big book, but I don’t want to be dogmatic about this.
There are exceptions. Really famous, culturally important books get a pass. There was The Maltese Falcon, as I just posted about recently. And, I mean, when I was reading the Iliad and Odyssey, by God, I was going to finish them. Not that they were bad, or difficult, but the quality and difficulty were beside the point.
That’s because I can get something from finishing the Iliad that I can’t get from finishing the latest hot novel at the airport: I can get… having read the Iliad. That’s worth something. Without getting too much into it, it’s not just bragging rights. It includes suddenly understanding the hundreds of references all around us.
Anyway, all this to say that I seem to be not finishing books lately, and I’m totally cool with that.
Also, I really did want to post something.
I like your stuff, particularly on Ted and finishing books. Interesting thought – about 8 to 9 years ago I was at a seminar. The speaker was investing heavily in electronic books. His biggest concern was that many book lovers want the book to put on the shelves – point of pride. For book nuts like me, the desire to put the book on the shelf is more like displaying an accomplishment. Some guys get trophies for sports, others have trophies that are the businesses they’ve built, lives they saved, diseases cured. Me? Books I’ve read.
I need to get out more.
Like art, a bookshelf tells a lot about the owner. More than art, because it shows interests and tastes. Even goals.
For me, it doesn’t have to be books I’ve read, but books I’m interested in reading. Most of my books are To Be Read and only a few are Have Been Read.
My bookshelves are about aspirations.