Reading Journal (9 Dec): Thoughts on Being a Selective Reader

I’ve heard more than one person express worry that they will be considered a snob because they have been only reading classics lately. Why is that?

I made a comment on Claire at Paperback_Reader’s page a few months ago (yes, that’s how long I’ve been thinking about this) and her responses got me thinking about being a discerning reader. In part, Claire wrote:

If there are any gaps in my reading then I like to fill them. I know what I like but I would never consider myself so well-read that I could simply write-off an area of literature that doesn’t appeal to me; I would be scared that it would also be to my detriment as a reader.

I hope I’m not misunderstanding, but unlike Claire, I feel okay putting off areas of literature for now. It doesn’t mean that I’m considering myself so “well-read”: it just means that I have to make choices. I’m realizing I can’t read every book that I want to read. But not only can’t I read everything that has been published, I can’t even read one thing from each genre and still feel good about my reading. There are certain fields that I’m most interesting in gaining expertise in, certain fields that I enjoy above others, and certain genres and authors that I’m incredibly interested in reading next. Those are the works I feel good about selecting to read.

As a result of those selections, there are going to be gaps in my reading, and I fully accept that. Continue reading »

Reading Journal (22 July): Reading as a Priority

Suey at It’s All About Books mentioned a friend who said “I don’t have the luxury to read” and this got me thinking. People are always saying to me, “I don’t have time to read.” I have to argue they don’t choose to read.

Reading is a luxury in some ways. But saying “I don’t have the luxury” is really saying “I have better things to do,” and that means “I’d rather do something else.” It’s a choice. And I want to tell all those people “Please don’t blame me for choosing differently from you! I’d rather read.”

I personally don’t think reading is a necessity. I can physically exist without reading, although my mind might be very bored sometimes. But I love the mental energy that goes toward reading! Instead of being a luxury or a necessity, I think reading is a priority. People who say “I don’t have that luxury” really just don’t want it enough, I think.

Everyone has time to read if they wanted to. I read while eating breakfast. I read while combing and drying my hair. I read instead of watching television (we don’t have it). I read by listening to an audiobook while driving and cooking dinner and sweeping the floor. I read for a few minutes in the late hours of the night before the lights are turned off. I read because I want to.

Where or when do you choose to read? Continue reading »

Robinson Crusoe Adaptations for Children

In Chapter 6 of my history of children’s literature textbook, Children’s Literature, Seth Lerer indicates:

Almost from its original publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe had an immense impact on literature for children and adults. It has been widely seen as one of the first major novels in English; as the stimulus for a range of adventure stories; as the kernel for abridgments and adaptations; and as the marker for particular personal and political experience. (page 129)

I can believe that. I liked Robinson Crusoe’s themes (reviewed here), and I can see how people through history could pick and choose various themes to expand upon both in criticism and when creating adaptations.

For the sake of this month’s project, I decided to look at some of the modern-day abridgments and adaptations of Robinson Crusoe to determine how it is still viewed. In Lerer’s analysis of some of the adaptations from the 1800s, he observers that many of the themes of Robinson Crusoe are taken away in making it an adventure story, and each rewritten version focused on a different moral lesson. The main difference among all the early retellings was the tone (page 137).

I came to this project torn as to whether abridgments for children are good. I wished that I could determined that adapters are more faithful to the original in this day and age, but I also wished I could suggest that everyone just stay with the original,  simply because I like classics to be left alone.

In the end, I’d suggest that there are similar changes in tone in the various children’s adaptations of Robinson Crusoe today, and some of them eliminate or completely rewrite the major themes of Robinson Crusoe. But this is not always bad. Continue reading »

How to Read and Why: Short Stories Retrospective

Last June, I had just barely begun book blogging. My reading was beginning to expand beyond my comfort zone (i.e., go to the library and randomly take a book with a pretty cover off the shelf) and into the world of TBR lists. When I read the preface to Harold Bloom’s How to Read and Why, I decided I needed to focus my reading. I asked myself the question:

How can I really “read” a book, even fiction, to get something out of it?

I decided to treat Bloom’s book as a textbook as I read through the works on his list, in search of the answer to that question. The How to Read and Why Reading List can be found here; all posts on Rebecca Reads relating to HTR&W can be found on the HTR&W tag.

Since I have now finished the short story portion of the HTR&W challenge, I thought I’d take the chance to revisit the project itself. Continue reading »

The Book That Changed My Life, edited by Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannesson + Giveaway

To my surprise, I greatly enjoyed reading The Book that Changed My Life, edited by Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannesson.

The Book that Changed My Life is a collection of essays by writers, and since I don’t often read modern fiction, I didn’t expect to recognize many of the authors highlighted, much less did I expect such a variety of classics and modern classics highlighted as favorites. Yet, both fiction and nonfiction authors share the books that influenced their life, from Julius Caesar to Mary Higgins Clark. Continue reading »

A Ruined Author?

I’m finishing my review of Vladimir Nabokov’s short stories, which I loved reading. I hope to have it done by tomorrow.

But I feel I can’t write a post about Nabokov (even his short stories) without mentioning another work by this author that I probably don’t even need to name. Continue reading »

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster

I saw How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster on the “New Nonfiction” shelf at the library. I thought I’d take a glance through it when I got home, but I certainly had no intention of reading it: I have a lot of books either in progress or on my bedside table, waiting to be read. Well, about 15 pages in to it, I decided I had to read it. Despite the fact that this is a nonfiction book about how to approach literature from the point of ” what does it mean?”, I was hooked.

The subtitle is “A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines” and I think that is pretty accurate. Foster’s tone is light, amusing, and engaging as he reminds of the various recurring themes in literature. But his point is that such themes are not random guesses by your literature professors; he argues that the subtle messages and subtle references to other works of literature really just makes literature fun. Continue reading »

Lists and Challenges Updates

I love lists. Lately, I’ve been making lists of my books to read. Weekly Geeks a number of weeks ago was to update something: that tells you something that it’s taken me this long to get my lists updated.

My husband says I’ve been working on reading lists more than I’ve been reading lately. But that’s not true because I read a lot in October! Most of my posts were reviews of books I read.

In November, I’m not going to try so hard to make sure I have “X” posts a week: I’m going to get back to reading. Continue reading »

Martel-Harper Challenge (Fourth Quarter 2008)

I know I’m insane to think about another challenge when I’m already feeling overwhelmed. But I love the concept and the reading list for the Martel-Harper Challenge. Continue reading »

Judging a Book By Its Cover Again

I wrote the other day how I visited the library and got a number of novels.

• Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
• Possession by A.S. Byatt
• Atonement by Ian McEwan

I am very interested in reading all of them. I’ve only heard great things about them. I couldn’t decide which one to get from the library first, so I got them all. And yet, the reason I chose to start the one I started surprised me. Continue reading »