Putting aside a book...
I will no longer be ashamed when I put aside a book. Last year I started reading "The Interpreter of Maladies." The first story was so amazing, that I just couldn't get into the other stories. I couldn't put up with it anymore and I put it aside. After reading reviews, and feeling like I missed something...I picked it back up yesterday. I started over, and I am loving it this time. When I read it last year, I really wasn't in the mood to read a short story collection. I couldn't stop thinking about how great the first story was, and how the other stories just didn't measure up. I've just proved to myself that it is perfectly alright to push a book aside and pick it up at a later date. Sometimes, as a reader you need to read what you are in the mood for. The first time I read the book, I had so many expectations. This time I had none, less than none because I remembered hating it. I'm very proud of myself for picking it back up. Maybe I could try a Margaret Atwood novel next....
In college I had an english class devoted to Margaret Atwood, and the teacher was so monotone. The material felt pushed onto me, and we spent a month and a half on Atwood's "The Journal's of Susanna Moodie." I must include the fact that this book is a collection of poems. I'm not a fan of words being strategically placed on paper for meaning.
Example from one of her poems:
I will prowl and slink
in crystal darkness
among the stalactite roots, with new
formed plumage
uncorroded
gold and
Fiery green, my fingers
curving and scaled, my
opal
no
eyes glowing
I just detested the class. I hear many people praising Atwood and I can't help but sigh. I wanted to throw away my Atwood novels. If you know me, you know I treasure my novels, that is how much I hated that class. I just didn't see what Atwood fans loved. I think it is time to try again. This time on my own terms, and without expectations.
Comments
I'm not a huge fan of the poetry word placement technique thingy - it always seems a bit too deliberate and contrite to me I guess. I enjoy some of her poetry (but I haven't seen the journals of s.m) but I far prefer her short stories and novels.