If you couldn't already tell, I love to read. And while I might not be a particularly fast reader, I would definitely say I'm enthusiastic.
However.
I have recently found myself, I hate to say, putting off and avoiding reading! Argh!
The main cause for this literary lapse, is this - I am currently reading a Book Club book which I simply cannot seem to get excited about. Now, I understand that not all books can be exciting, or amazing or mind-blowingly stupendous. In reality, very few of the books I actually do enjoy reading are any of these things anyway.
But a book must be compelling. It must make the reader want to keep going back to it, to make the reader think about the story and what might happen next even when they're off doing something completely different.
For me, our Book Club book just doesn't have that compelling quality and I'm now worried that I may not even get it read before our next meeting (still two weeks away!).
I'm really not sure what to do because the very reason I joined the Book Club was to make me read books I might not otherwise check out - to go that little bit beyond my sometimes narrow reading-comfort-zone and discover something new. But it's really such a struggle that it makes me feel exhausted!
To make matters worse, because I am feeling guilty about not reading the assigned book, I'm not reading anything at all! And I miss it desperately :(
All my whining leads me to the main point of this post - Is it wrong to just give up and move on to reading something I think I'll enjoy? And if I do, what am I supposed to say at my Book Club meeting? Should I force myself to read the book in these precious few moments I have on this Earth, when really I'd rather be reading something else? Or should I just suck it up? I mean who knows - the last 400 pages might be better ...
Please post your suggestions and help me with this quandary!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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4 comments:
Oh Saire. if it's any consolation, i also found it extremely non-compelling. it took me ages to get into the style of it, and then when i did i never really loved it. can you skim-read it? just so you can say something other then "i didn't like it/so i didn't read it". when i chose it i really had no idea what it was like, i just went for it because there were heaps of copies available and i knew it had been on bookclub lists, so how bad can it be? please read it, then you can join me in panning it at book club!! we can have some lively discussion and i won't feel guilty about forcing a book i myself didn't like on my own club!!!
Awww Shaz! I am in no way blaming you for the choice of book or anything! I think it was a great choice given it was our first meeting and we needed multiple copies! I will try to keep reading it - really I will! We'll see how it goes :)
You may not like it but my solution to this problem has always been to read something else at the same time. Something I know I'll love, often soemthing I have read before. This way I read the unpleasant one as a chore and, once I've read some, I'm allowed to read soem of the other, like a reward for good behaviour!
keep reading Saire, you'll be glad you did - just for the achievement of having stuck with it and finished it.
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