"I’ve heard rumours of some bold readers who will drop a book after a few terrible pages."
I am one of those bold readers. More than 20 years ago I decided there were too many books and too little time to keep reading books I wasn't enjoying. Occasionally, I return to a book I've abandoned, but overall, this approach has worked well. The first few pages are usually enough for me to determine if a book is for me.
Perfectly reasonable. Truthfully, I've thrown aside books before the end of the first page, but always before I've bought it. I read in one of Christopher Hitchens' books about how he was always trying to get Martin Amis to read Orwell. Finally, Amis picked up 1984, read the first paragraph and said something like , "The man can't write worth a damn!"and threw the book across the room. That emboldened me to start trusting my own gut a little more when it came to that sinking nausea some books make you feel early on.
It was funny to read this today. I’m recording a podcast episode today about a book I just could not finish, and then my next episode will be a full-on roast of a book that was simply terrible. Sometimes books aren’t for you…and sometimes they shouldn’t be for anyone!
I'm so torn on roasting books. It's hard to make any art, so I want to be as forgiving as possible, yet I enjoy reading a really good hatchet job and I think there's value in talking about all sides of the reading life. Some of the best negative reviews are eminently quotable and elegant; one of the best I've read recently was Matt Zoller Seitz's review of "Fountain of Youth". There were so many sentences I was jealous that I hadn't written, like:
"James Herbert edited the movie, perhaps with the mix of deep annoyance and honor-bound diligence of a lifeguard doing CPR on someone who dove into a pool fully clothed and drunk."
And this beauty:
"Every frame rewards inattention."
(By the way, please do drop the link here to your podcast for other readers to find it.)
Thank you! It’s called Crack The Book, on all platforms, and I post it here on my Substack. I am reading and podcasting my way through The Honest Broker’s 12 month Humanities reading list. (I write about it, too.) Here’s my Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/cheryldrury
"I’ve heard rumours of some bold readers who will drop a book after a few terrible pages."
I am one of those bold readers. More than 20 years ago I decided there were too many books and too little time to keep reading books I wasn't enjoying. Occasionally, I return to a book I've abandoned, but overall, this approach has worked well. The first few pages are usually enough for me to determine if a book is for me.
Perfectly reasonable. Truthfully, I've thrown aside books before the end of the first page, but always before I've bought it. I read in one of Christopher Hitchens' books about how he was always trying to get Martin Amis to read Orwell. Finally, Amis picked up 1984, read the first paragraph and said something like , "The man can't write worth a damn!"and threw the book across the room. That emboldened me to start trusting my own gut a little more when it came to that sinking nausea some books make you feel early on.
Thanks so much for the acknowledgement, Matthew. Really enjoyed reading how you grappled with the morality or utility of hatchet jobs!
Thank you! And thanks again for the original comment; you really did articulate quite lucidly something I needed articulating.
It was funny to read this today. I’m recording a podcast episode today about a book I just could not finish, and then my next episode will be a full-on roast of a book that was simply terrible. Sometimes books aren’t for you…and sometimes they shouldn’t be for anyone!
I'm so torn on roasting books. It's hard to make any art, so I want to be as forgiving as possible, yet I enjoy reading a really good hatchet job and I think there's value in talking about all sides of the reading life. Some of the best negative reviews are eminently quotable and elegant; one of the best I've read recently was Matt Zoller Seitz's review of "Fountain of Youth". There were so many sentences I was jealous that I hadn't written, like:
"James Herbert edited the movie, perhaps with the mix of deep annoyance and honor-bound diligence of a lifeguard doing CPR on someone who dove into a pool fully clothed and drunk."
And this beauty:
"Every frame rewards inattention."
(By the way, please do drop the link here to your podcast for other readers to find it.)
Ooo, that last one is so pithy. What a delight!
Thank you! It’s called Crack The Book, on all platforms, and I post it here on my Substack. I am reading and podcasting my way through The Honest Broker’s 12 month Humanities reading list. (I write about it, too.) Here’s my Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/cheryldrury