Wolfgang wrote: ↑29 Jun 2021, 04:21
Sometimes time is too precious to do that, Fiona... Why forcing yourself to read a book you dislike if there's a chance to read one you like? Many of us are not at school any longer...
There is a famous quote by author Gabriel Garcia Marquez that in this day and age of so many books we don't need to read any boring books.
At school they made us read the classics (I hated them). In my twenties friends convinced me to read what's on the bestseller list. Very often I found it extremely boring (like the novel "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind).
In the 1990's a friend from Munich recommended to read Donna Tartt's "A Simple History" which sounded intriguing to me. First of all it takes place in Vermont which I love. Second it was a crime novel. But even 300 pages into the book nothing much happened. I finally gave up.
In the end I decided to only read what I find interesting. Even then I pick the occasional dud.
Very often the description of a novel sounds more intriguing than the actual story turns out to be.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
I do sometimes give up but not often. Often I'll leave it for a period then come back and try again. It took me over a year to read Jane Eyre as I abandoned it for long periods several times. I think that sometimes we have to push ourselves, though. There's never been a book I've hated, read and then purged from my mind. I've learned things from them all and something about them always sticks with me. I generally dislike traditional 'classics' but I try to read one each year (or so) even just so that I don't feel like such a dunce when the more literate people around me start discussing their favourite books
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
Fiona, over the past 20+ years I stopped feeling bad about reading what I enjoy to read (no classics) as nobody in our circle of friends or in-laws reads novels. Most women I know in the US waste their life away with canning fruits or veggies, baking, cooking and talking about their grand children. Or they do volunteer work. Not very exciting. And certainly not something I ever wished to do.
Except from the Spade Oak meeting in May 2014 I've never met anybody in "real life" who still reads Enid Blyton, so I keep quiet about it (the majority of Americans don't read EB (I noticed this many times on Goodreads.com, because EB's books are not available at the US book stores)).
Of course I often miss discussing my favorite books (which I like to re-read) with others in person.
However, EBS and Goodreads.com are nice alternatives.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
Back on topic I ended up starting Inferno this morning.
I got to work and discovered I was on “Meet and greet”
Which is a folding table in the foyer of the library where I - believe it or not - meet and greet every customer that comes in, getting them to fill in track&trace details and advising them what services are available/not available etc.
It can be busy at 10 when we open but after that there can be long waits between customers so a book is pretty essential. I hadn’t planned ahead and brought my kindle so I looked up Inferno on the system and went and got myself a hardback from the stack.
I got through 18 chapters which is about 20% of the book in my two hours there.
I was glad to see the beginning was different and the baddie(s) is/are different this time, too. Though we’ve got another wig-wearer already!
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
Fiona1986 wrote: ↑29 Jun 2021, 15:51
I do sometimes give up but not often. Often I'll leave it for a period then come back and try again......There's never been a book I've hated, read and then purged from my mind. I've learned things from them all and something about them always sticks with me.
My thoughts entirely! I have almost never given up but take a break and return to the book at a later stage. Having said that, I have never finished "War and Peace" or the book I received as a Christmas gift two years ago (the "autobiography" of Marilyn Monroe's dog Maf) but I do intend to return to them at some stage and as Fiona says, despite the fact that I found them both somewhat heavy going certain parts of them have stuck in my mind.
After having struggled reading "Dr. Zhivago" I didn't even make an attempt to read "War and Peace" when I went to high school. I didn't like the movie either.
Chrissie
Society Member
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake."
Alfred Hitchcock
It is fascinating that people are so different (I suppose that is what makes us so interesting) as "Dr. Zhivago" is one of my very favourite books! I was blown away by the film when I first saw it as a teenager and my late mother bought me the novel, which is now fairly tattered as I must have read it almost as many times as "The Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm" and the "Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage". The novel is even better than the film as it includes far more detail and a host of extra characters. As I was so fond of it my husband bought me a new German translation that was published about 20 years ago, but being lazy I still prefer the original English translation. I also have a DVD of the film and a friend gave me a present of the soundtrack, so I am a real 'fan. In addition, I have some other books by Boris Pasternak, including a collection of short stories
I started Origins a week or so ago and so far it hasn't "grabbed" me as much as the others have. The modern art museum doesn't interest me so much, and it took quite along time for anything exciting to actually happen. I'm 1/3 of the way through and so far Langdon hasn't had to crack a single code!
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
