I've often heard it said, "if you don't like to read, you haven't found the right book". I would love to give someone credit for coming up with this thought, but in researching I have found more than a few taking credit.
Do you agree?
Is there a book for everyone?
On my way home from school this afternoon I heard the beginning of a 2011 interview with Sue Grafton about her then new release V is for Vengeance . My thoughts ran to a friend who many years ago quietly confessed these "alphabet" crime novels were a guilty pleasure. I am always agreeable to a "guilty pleasure", but have never picked up one of Ms. Gafton's crime novels. This is not meant to be a judgement, just a statement.
Several years later I ran into the same person, told her about a book I had just read hoping to chat about it for a bit and maybe hear what she was reading. She stopped what she was doing, looked at me and stated rather loudly she would never read that book. Being an avid reader you could say my feelings were hurt.. a little.
With the interview continuing in the background and remembering the sting of what I thought to be a criticism, I began thinking about how we choose the books we read; why we are drawn to certain books while others are just not exciting.
So often a friend will ask me for a book suggestion. I always ask about their favorite books, and what they have read recently. I can almost always match a friend with a book. It is when I impose my own favorites without regard to their likes and dislikes I mess up terribly.
This year, 2012, by November 26th one hundred eight books will have been published. This includes only what is categorized as literature, crime/mystery and short stories. The authors I recognize are far fewer than those I know nothing of.
In 1912, forty-eight fiction books and nine non-fiction debuted. You might recognize a few of the authors: L. Frank Baum, Edgar Rice Burroroughs, Willa Cather, Sir Author Conon Doyle, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Beatrix Potter.
The year before Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was published, 1812 sixteen books of fiction and six non-fiction were offered to those who enjoyed reading. It was the year we were given volume one of Grimm's Fairy Tales, as well as Swiss Family Robinson.
One of my greatest pleasures is sharing the joy of a good book. Are all of them great literature? How many will become classics enjoyed by generations. Will they be books critics have touted or they will be the ones who are declared soft without substance. I am certainly not qualified to make a guess I will be happy to tell you what I love, what I simply enjoy and what is just not my "cup of tea"; I will want to tell you why. How fortunate we are to have so many books published each year from which to make our selection.
My guilty pleasure? Books!
My favorites are as eclectic as the rest of my life...
Autumn is the perfect time to sit outside among the falling leaves or curled up in your favorite chair with a good book.
Three books I recently finished:
An American Childhood. An autobiography by Annie Dillard. This book spoke to me...loved it!
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn. A best-selling, critically acclaimed, page turner. Didn't love it.
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier. A reread I found as enjoyable if not more so than when we first met.
I would love to hear about you guilty pleasure reads....
Do you agree?
Is there a book for everyone?
On my way home from school this afternoon I heard the beginning of a 2011 interview with Sue Grafton about her then new release V is for Vengeance . My thoughts ran to a friend who many years ago quietly confessed these "alphabet" crime novels were a guilty pleasure. I am always agreeable to a "guilty pleasure", but have never picked up one of Ms. Gafton's crime novels. This is not meant to be a judgement, just a statement.
Several years later I ran into the same person, told her about a book I had just read hoping to chat about it for a bit and maybe hear what she was reading. She stopped what she was doing, looked at me and stated rather loudly she would never read that book. Being an avid reader you could say my feelings were hurt.. a little.
With the interview continuing in the background and remembering the sting of what I thought to be a criticism, I began thinking about how we choose the books we read; why we are drawn to certain books while others are just not exciting.
So often a friend will ask me for a book suggestion. I always ask about their favorite books, and what they have read recently. I can almost always match a friend with a book. It is when I impose my own favorites without regard to their likes and dislikes I mess up terribly.
This year, 2012, by November 26th one hundred eight books will have been published. This includes only what is categorized as literature, crime/mystery and short stories. The authors I recognize are far fewer than those I know nothing of.
In 1912, forty-eight fiction books and nine non-fiction debuted. You might recognize a few of the authors: L. Frank Baum, Edgar Rice Burroroughs, Willa Cather, Sir Author Conon Doyle, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Beatrix Potter.
The year before Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was published, 1812 sixteen books of fiction and six non-fiction were offered to those who enjoyed reading. It was the year we were given volume one of Grimm's Fairy Tales, as well as Swiss Family Robinson.
One of my greatest pleasures is sharing the joy of a good book. Are all of them great literature? How many will become classics enjoyed by generations. Will they be books critics have touted or they will be the ones who are declared soft without substance. I am certainly not qualified to make a guess I will be happy to tell you what I love, what I simply enjoy and what is just not my "cup of tea"; I will want to tell you why. How fortunate we are to have so many books published each year from which to make our selection.
My guilty pleasure? Books!
My favorites are as eclectic as the rest of my life...
Autumn is the perfect time to sit outside among the falling leaves or curled up in your favorite chair with a good book.
Three books I recently finished:
An American Childhood. An autobiography by Annie Dillard. This book spoke to me...loved it!
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn. A best-selling, critically acclaimed, page turner. Didn't love it.
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier. A reread I found as enjoyable if not more so than when we first met.
I would love to hear about you guilty pleasure reads....
Bonnie, everyone should be able to cite a piece of writing that touches them.
ReplyDeleteOf course, sincerity's not been too fashionable lately, so it's easier for many to say that writing, which we've perceived as coming from a place of sincerity, is rubbish.
Writing is just a record of a human voice. And writing once strove to deliver its best because to produce any writing was a costly and time-consuming effort.
Now that words can be delivered more rapidly than we have time to understand them,
we over-speak, over-write, throw words around without concern.
I don't know if books will survive alot longer ( and I'm a bookseller! ), but writing will go on as long as we do.
I'm not so concerned about the format of our writing, as I am about its sincerity.
A great deal of my own reading is entirely unfashionable. I believe in following my own instinct, regardless of what's popular. Perhaps my favourite short novel of all is J L Carr's 'A Month in the Country'.
Faisal, I always enjoy reading your posts about the unique books that you have found and have inspired you. I always feel as if I have attended an exhibit. Now that I know you are a bookseller I more fully understand your love of these wonderful and sometimes forgotten books.
DeleteI picked up and carried around a copy of "A Month in the Country" while browsing a used bookstore in Enniskerry. However I was so focused on finding a copy of "Elizabeth's German Garden" (I didn't find it) I placed back on the shelf. Now I regret not making the purchase.
It makes my stomach ill to think of a time with out books.
Thanks for asking. I'll talk about the three you just finished. I'm eager to check out the Annie Dillard autobiography. I grew up on Tinker Creek! I read Gone Girl in August for my Muse group. Didn't love it but felt compelled to finish it--oh my! I've never read Rebecca but now want to. I read Wild for our discussion this month. It was o.k.. I'm now reading Light Between Oceans and The Greater Journey and liking both.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
Bonnie, Many have found "An American Childhood" a little dull. I found it wonderful! So many times I would read a passage and think, me too. She is an amazing writer. I have seen "Light Between Oceans" on a few of my notices. Thanks for the recommendation. Bonnie
DeleteReading is a pleasure for me, too, and I love having books on my bedside table that I can't wait to read. Right now, I have the pleasure of reading a book written by my husband's cousin - The City's Son, by Tom Pollock. It's a YA dystopia and so far it's a page-turner! Other books I hope to read this fall are The Winter Palace (about Catherine the Great) and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.
ReplyDeleteBeth, I have read "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" and found it to be charming. "The Winter Palace" sound interesting. I will certainly check it out. How wonderful to have so many authors in your family. I know you must inspire one another. Thanks for the book recommendations. Bonnie
DeleteI have heard that the Annie Dillard book is great...I tried to read it once but couldn't get engaged in it...but perhaps I will one day. I tried reading Jane Eyre for years without success and then last summer I picked it up again and absolutely loved it...couldn't put it down!! So I always try to give a book a second or third try because maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind the first go round. I love reading...I am lost without a book to read. I love books that are series...I am reading a mystery right now by William Tapply...a new author I have found...and like. I love to hear what other people are reading!!! It helps me try things that I wouldn't ordinarily choose to read which many times turns out great.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, Much like wine....no book can be read before its time. I have, like you, put a book down, picked it later and devoured it. I am so enjoying your nightly pictures. Bonnie
Deleteyou inspire me to the depths of my core. you should write a book!!
ReplyDeleteDebbie, you continue to raise me up. Thank you! Bonnie
DeleteYes Bonnie, The Time in Between is a wonderful book - thanks for telling me you've read it too - and I'm off to bed early tonight to try and finish it before leaving for Europe on Sat.
ReplyDeleteTaking with me on the trip/ship...........A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick which sounds promising.
Happy days - Mary
Mary I do hope you have a wonderful time. I look forward to your sharing your travels. I will be interested in hearing what you think of "A Reliable Wife". I read it awhile back. Bon Voyage!
DeleteI cycle . . . sometimes have stacks near me, finish one, begin another, and/or read 2-3 at the same time. And then I have times when I am dormant, nothing seems to pull me in . . .
ReplyDeleteRight now I am in between . . . Reading a Baldacct, Hour Game. I have read most of his, but had not read it. I have read most of Daniel Silva's . . . all of the Gabrielle series . . . I could never watch a movie or television of either. Not sure why that type of book has struck my fancy the past few years.
I have LEFT neglected, by Genova in my current stack and on a library wait list for some books. One suggested by you . . . name escapes me right now . . .
I look forward to a "new cycle" when I am lost in the printed word. I read many 'e' books for a bit and have two large libraries. Now I am hungry again to hold a book in my hands, with a comfy corner and a wrap nearby . . .
I look forward to more of your continued Book Wraps . . .
Lynne, I too often myself reading multiple books at a time. There is just something about getting lost in a book.
DeleteI tend to lean towards non-fiction and the classics. The Glass Castle was particularly a good read for me. I liked Pettigrew, but felt there was too much time describing the gun, but the rest of the story was good. I miss the musty old second-hand book shops, they have all gone out of business in my area. I think we read the things we are interested in, and it is as varied as all our different personalities. Great post!
ReplyDeleteLana, I really enjoyed reading the "The Glass Castle" and her second book "Half-Broke Horses". I enjoy browsing used bookstores when I am traveling.
DeleteMy guilty book pleasures run the gamut, but lately, I have taken to Medieval Mysteries Fiction. The genre combines my love of history with that of mystery. I also love the REAL History, anything about British History from 1100 to 1600's, or North American History. (I suppose I needn't feel "guilty" when I am actually learning something) But here is my little guilty secret.... sometimes I pull out my old Nancy Drew Books, the ones I read as a young girl. I have a set from the 1940's with great old illustrations in pen and ink. I just find it comforting to curl up and read these sometimes. An old copy of Rebecca, Jamaica Inn or Wuthering Heights often call me from the bookshelf and whisper, "read Me".
ReplyDeleteJeri, How wonderful to pull out you Nancy Drew books to reread. I loved reading Nancy Drew. I've not read "Jamaica Inn", I will have to find a copy.
ReplyDelete