Complaints about reading a Great Book
Category Archives: Reading
“Freakishly Fast” Reading
Sarah Weinman read 462 books last year and talks about it with the LA Times. She said most of those books were “mediocre or forgettable, and if I hadn’t been on a subway or captive on a plane or a train, I might not have finished them.”
I can’t read anywhere near this fast. I’m pretty slow at it, which is why I’ve begun to claim that I don’t read books at all, I only read about books.
I think my sister knows a woman who can read like Sarah. She said watching her read is like watching someone turn the pages. How she can take in a whole page at once must have something to do with ancient secrets or Aztec technology. Maybe she’s immortal. Wait, we’re all immortal, so maybe she’s … something else …
Abiding in His Word
Happy Birthday to Tolkien
Again, I’m a day late, but happy birthday to J.R.R. Tolkien! May his tribe increase.
Walt Mills mentions the great one in his column today. ” . . . disease and starvation, heroism and the depths of human despair . . . I could have picked up almost any Dickens novel and had pretty much the same experience. Dickens is a true winter novelist, just as The Lord of the Rings trilogy are autumn books, my wife pointed out to me many years ago. Tolkien had an autumn imagination, the feel of leaves turning and the golden fields. Time to set off on an adventure. I turn to Tolkien in the fall.”
Tolkien is also on a new CD set from the BBC called The Spoken Word, a compilation of programs with literary figures.
Reading Over Your Head
Because by reading a book that is tough, you have an opportunity to grow. I don’t think anyone could argue against such good advice, but most of us have the obvious problem of not knowing which of the books we can identify as over our heads is worthwhile. Scads of folks praise Proust, for example, (sacred cow-tipping alert) but should I give a rat’s rearend about the man’s writing? Couldn’t I just read a couple essays on him and then work to read something better?
Actually, Proust is a bad author to question. The latest Booker winner would be a far better choice.
What Does Literary Studies Have To Do With Anything?
Academic literary studies apparently has little to do with the world in which living readers live. Bruce Fleming says, “It’s, well, academic, about syllabi and hiring decisions, how works relate to each other, and how the author is oppressing whomever through the work.”
Bury That Nose in 2008s
Stefan Beck writes, “If you’re the type who likes to slink away from the holiday table with a tumbler of eggnog, hide in the attic among the Hummels and Good Housekeeping back issues, and bury your nose in a book, this list is a good place to start.” He is speaking of the NY Times Book Review list of 2008 books, asks where on the list Marilynne Robinson’s book is, and recommends Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland.
Blogger Shot While Reading
Of course, it’s a posed shot, but I like Wayne’s style in the first photo he posts from Disney World. The shots of Pooh count as reading material too. Pooh is the man.
“Republicans are not readers”
There’s a bit of truth in the thick of this self-loving opinion by a Guardian’s book blogger. “Because by choosing to write books, as opposed to becoming talk show hosts, or country singers, Palin and Wurzelbacher are tacitly endorsing two of the things that Blue America loves the most, and which Red America has often disdained: freedom of expression and reading.”
Sure. I’m a Republican, and I never read or write. I don’t give a rat’s rear-end about those things. I’d much rather picket my local learning establishment or fish in the river I polluted.
Targeted Reading for Boys
Ballantyne the Brave is the website and blog of Joshua T. Phillips, 15, who is dedicated to inspiring boys to read good books like those of G.A. Henty and R.M. Ballantyne. It was Robert Louis Stevenson who gave us the phrase “Ballantyne the Brave.” Phillips writes, “He did this to honor Ballantyne for his bold vision of manhood — a vision which influenced Stevenson himself.”
I see one of Ballantyne’s books is on Leif Ericsson, called The Norsemen in the West. Rife with errors no doubt, but hopefully fun to read.