Reading conscience
10 March 2010
I always have a bad conscience about reading.
No matter how many books I devour there is still thousands of books I WANT to read, NEED to read or SHOULD read. It never stops.
At a certain point in my life I got the impression that I really SHOULD read all the classics to become a decent writer. It might even be true. I started to get hold of and read some of the should-reads, but the reading went slow and I didn't enjoy it at all. When starting on "The Castle" (Kafka) I was crawling. I had to force myself through the pages and even though its not a long book (200 pages?) it seemed to go on forever. Then, when there was about 25 pages left, I lost the book on a train ... I took it as a sign, and promised myself that I would never read a book again because I SHOULD, but because I wanted to.
I never read the ending of "The Castle", but I'm pretty sure I will, some time in the future, when I'm ready ...
2 comments
Written by Jon Unger on 11 March 2010 at 10:55:22
I was exactly the same when I was younger and read all the classics Kafka and Dostoevsky to Shakespeare and Jane Austen. 20 years later, I think if I read them again I would get a completely different experience and understanding from them. But do I have the time and energy anymore? Plus there are so many great new books to read, the my reading pile is continually growing as it is. Maybe I should drop the guilt and just enjoy what I'm reading :-)
Written by Valentina on 13 March 2010 at 14:28:00
Already from Libri Di Luca I could see what a devoted reader you are and I agree with you: there are so many books to smell, cherish , immerse yourself into and yet so little time. But I also discovered that not every book holds a journey worth taking for everyone: each one of use must go with the flow , so to speak, and read the books that attract us most, especially because there is little time :) I believe reading makes one a better author, but you hardly need to dive into Kafka to better your craft: it´s already clearer from book two that you are just getting better and better :)
Enjoy your reading and writing and thanks for updating this blog. Love to be able to keep in touch with you and your activities!