24 June 2007

Why read? Why write about it?

I’ve come across a couple of articles recently about literary blogs versus “real” book reviews (Josh Getlin in the LA Times and Adam Kirsch in the New York Sun). For my part, though my site is more akin to a blog than to the New York Review of Books, and the more talk there is about books the better, I’d rather read a serious review than a blog rave—or, worse, a misspelling-riddled Amazon customer review (though I certainly believe in the wisdom of crowds). I’m dismayed at the encroachment of blog highlights and reader contributions on my local newspaper—if I want to hear what Joe Schmo thinks I can turn on talk radio. As ingrained into American culture is the notion of the unschooled rube who shows those stuffy people with fancy degrees a thing or two when he turns out to be a natural genius, I’d rather hear an expert’s opinion.

Not being an expert in much of anything myself, I should explain what I’m doing here. I read for escapist pleasure, to learn about a subject that interests me, and to help me think through an issue or problem. Usually these three reasons are all operating at once with any given book. I write about books because they make me think and I want to express, record, and possibly start a discussion with those thoughts. I also write about books because I want to encourage others to have the pleasure of reading them. These reasons don’t usually apply to the same book.

I don’t finish every book I start—life is too short, and there’s so much…anyway. I read Lennard J. Davis’s review in the Chronicle of Higher Education of Pierre Bayard’s How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read (Davis is against the practice, but more against the pressure to read than the pressure to fake). Part of being culturally literate is knowing about a book even if you haven’t read it. It’s okay to skim, to read book reviews and op-eds, or to watch the movie version. I recently tried to scale the Magic Mountain and only made it about 20% of the way. I got some pleasure out of those 150 pages. I have a feel for the book that I didn’t have before. Why did I try to read that book? Because I’d been told it was a classic. At some point you have to rely on a received opinion rather than try to read every primary source for yourself (see above, about the wisdom of crowds).

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© 1997-2007 Erica Avery  I love hearing that you found something to read on my site!  If you liked it, even better!  Let me know at  Erica at so much to read dot com

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