I read often. Less than a lot of you, but more than the general population. I read a book-book once a month, and a few manga/graphic novels a month.
Though I’ve read a lot, I only have a handful of books that I love enough to recommend, The Road, Story of Your Life, American Psycho and some Isaac Asimov shorts.
I’m really picky and usually don’t walk away from books thinking, “wow that was a great book.”
I was asking myself recently, why do you read so much? You don’t like most of what you consume. I realized I like the completion aspect of reading.
Whatever that “thing” is, makes up for my often disappointed feelings regarding what I read.
I just wanted to share this realization and see if anyone else feels this way.
by TylertheDouche
4 Comments
I get the completion thing. A lot of times I get curious and want to see what a book is like. Half way through I’m already thinking about the next book to read 🤦♂️. Sometimes it feels like I like the idea of reading more than the actual commitment of it. I do stick through the books though.
I think that yes, you will find many people on this forum enjoy reading for the sake of reading X number of books per year or similarly arbitrary numerical goals. And others will often talk of how they feel bad about not finishing books and leaving them incomplete. Safe to assume you are not alone.
I read for the pleasure of the act of reading. I seek out books I believe will provide enjoyable aesthetic and intellectual experiences. If something is not providing that to me, I have no issues with leaving it incompletely read. While I tend to read many books a year, I’m not aiming to complete any particular number. I just like reading.
Near the middle of 2022, I decided to finish House of Leaves, which I had been reading on and off for 10 years. It was a little bit of “I wonder what this story is all about” but mostly “I want to finish this damn thing”. That energy propelled me to read nearly a book a week since then.
For the first few months, it was completion over enjoyment, and even though I could acknowledge the quality of the works (I am very picky), I didn’t have very strong feelings about anything. But that has changed with time and the number of works I’ve read. I’ve grown to like certain authors, dislike others, prefer certain styles, find subject matter that matters to me – essentially taking a lot of books and distilling my preferences from them. The longer the distillation process, the more I get steered in different and interesting directions. Now I have many threads I can follow to ensure that the time I spend reading is something I truly enjoy.
TLDR: just keep reading and distilling what you think you’ll like into what you’ll really like. That’s the best advice I can offer.
Well just do what Billy crystal does and read the last chapter first!