Wednesday, August 5, 2009

My reading dilemma

Here's the dilemma: Once I begin a book, I cannot stop - even if it is REALLY, REALLY bad!

Does anyone else have this problem?

Last night I got all the kiddos to bed and climbed into my bed looking forward to a couple hours of uninterrupted reading before hitting the hay. As I reached for the book on my bedside table (the book I've been reading for a week now and am on a whopping page 150!), I groaned a little. This current book I've committed to has proven to be less than exciting and even less inspiring.

Why don't I just put this book aside (or swap it on my favorite site: paperbackswap.com)? Because I can't. I can't bring myself to stop reading until the very last word has been duly noted and processed. I've made it through many a novel this way, all the while wondering when it would get interesting and begin to captivate me.

Often, I've been bountifully rewarded with a great ending or a story that finally grabs me in the middle. It's how I made it through The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and Fortune's Rock by Anita Shreve - I hung in there and am ever grateful that I did. But just as often, I struggle through the beginning pages of a book and reach the end only to be thankful that it is over and I can move on - my commitment to the author complete.

And of course there are countless books that I sail through, greedily devouring each word from beginning to end - like the Kite Runner that I read large parts of while stirring macaroni and cheese on the stove because I was so busy reading that I almost forgot to make dinner!

But what irks me is my misguided need to finish every book I pick up. Even now I feel confident that tonight I'll choose a new book and put to rest the current one (which shall remain nameless), but I know that when that fateful time comes, I'll likely be consumed by guilt and fear that on the very next page - the very next one that I'll never get to - there will be the great break through: those awe inspiring words I've been waiting for.

Hmmm...what to do...

4 comments:

  1. I have to admit that I don't have this problem at all. If a book is boring me or is not seeming worth it, I just give up and find another book. I've actually done that in the past few weeks, I've started three different books and none of them are doing it for me so far.

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  2. Oh I'm so jealous! I've got so many great books beckoning from the shelf...we'll see, it's almost bedtime (my reading time without kids disturbing me) so we'll see what I end up with!

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  3. Hey, if this is the case, then I pick you to read my novel (if it ever gets published, that is) because I know there will be at least one person in the entire world who will have read it from cover to cover. lol

    Thanks, for leaving comments on my blog. Your blog too, is very interesting and I shall enjoy reading. :)

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  4. LOL, Sharon...I'll for sure read your novel WHEN it hits the shelves!

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