So it was only natural that when it came to reading, I simply took it for granted that virtue required that I slog through any book I started, whether it was William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (a hated Grade 10 reading assignment) or Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (I loved the beginning, but got bored with all the woo-woo philosophy about two-thirds of the way through).
Mine was also a family of readers, with a house full of books, and my childhood library was virtually a second home to me, so I certainly didn’t lack for choices in my early reading life. But to my way of thinking back then, I had to finish the book I was reading, even if I already knew that I didn’t especially like it, before I could start another one, one that I might love.
It wasn’t until I became an adult, and a librarian, that I began to question my commitment to finishing each and every book that I began. Now that I really was living a major portion of my life in the library, I literally found myself surrounded by books, tempting me, calling to me from the shelves. How could I – in one lifetime – ever get through everything I wanted to read if I had to finish those books that I discovered to be (at least to me) boring, badly written or just plain bad?
Do be sure to read the rest here. It is great fun, and good adavice too I reckon.
Nancy Pearl is a librarian, critic, radio commentator and author of Book Lust. She is also the only librarian with her own action figure!
1 comment:
Nancy's action figure staffs my library. A few years ago, when I shared a cruise ship gig with her she told me that shortly after her doll came out, the manufacturer rang to say that 'Nancy, you've outsold Jesus!'(another star in his range).
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