There are tons of reasons why you should read books. Seriously: tons. Books are, quite possibly, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. (They’re, at the very least, in the top five, along with my wife, my son, coffee, and the Commodore 64.)
However, working at a library, sometimes I forget just how intimidating they can be. Walking into even an average-sized library, a patron is immediately faced with a building filled with thousands upon thousands of books. That can be intimidating, and even discouraging. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. One of my goals with this blog is to make the process of finding a book easier. Sure, I’ve spent time pushing you toward the good stuff, but what about the bad stuff?
Whenever I’m shelving browsing sections of my library, there are several reasons why I don’t pick books to read. With so many choices on the shelves, I’ve developed several ways of narrowing down the possibilities, making the choice of what book to take home at least somewhat manageable.
First: cigarette smoke. Nothing will make me reject a book faster than opening it up for the first time and a cloud of stale, sour cigarette smoke smacks you in the face. Smoke clings to book pages, and if a previous borrower was going through a two packs of heaters a day, it’s like being visited by the Ghost of Marlboros Past. Last week I picked up a James Patterson that was surrounded by a tiny haze all its own, like Pig Pen from Peanuts. I shelved that sucker and kept on moving.
There’s a possible corollary here having to do with encountering food stains as you’re reading – there’s nothing more gross than being absorbed in a good book and then come across a smudge of mustard in the margin left by some sloppy reader who refused to use a napkin. As disgusting as that is, it’s not something that would make me stop reading the book – maybe just cause me to skip some paragraphs to I can turn the page as quickly as possible – so that would be a whole ‘nother blog post.
Smoke on a book? Absolute no-no. Other reasons not to read a book are forthcoming.
Everything’s turned in – the semester is finally over. Things I plan on doing over winter break:
1.) Reacquaint myself with Greg Rucka’s most excellent spy graphic novel series, Queen & Country, now newly rebundled in four awesome-looking softcover editions, three of which are in possession of my library.
2.) Getting back to playing Baldur’s Gate 2, a game for my PC I bought many, many moons ago, but have never got around to actually finishing.
3.) Look for a good book on World War I from a beginner’s perspective – even though my home city has a huge memorial to it, WWI a war I know very little about and, frankly, need to educate myself on. I tried to crack Niall Ferguson’s “Pity of War” but soon realized I was way over my head. If you have any recommendations, send them along.
4.) Home improvement projects. They are legion, and will be avoided with my unearthly slacking abilities.
5.) Catch up on my Netflix queue of Dexter S2, Big Love, Freaks & Geeks, and the rerelease of SportsNight.
There’s an entry in my Google Docs folders that’s been sitting there for a bout five months entitled “The Secret History – Donna Tartt.” I’ve written and re-written the thing into incomprehensibility and I’ve finally thrown up my hands and said uncle. The Secret History isn’t an unreviewable book, by any means – it’s just that I can’t quite wrap my head around what I want to say about it.
I’ll give you an example. Back in 2000 I saw the Sam Mendes film “American Beauty.” I was finishing up my undergrad at UMKC and took myself to a well-reviewed movie to celebrate. I was so struck by the film that after the film ended and the lights went up, I simply could not talk. I was certainly capable of speech, but the movie was still rolling around in my mind and I was sifting through characters and scenes and all the rest and I just didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, as if opening my mouth and being forced to define my thoughts would somehow cheapen the experience I got from watching it.
Tartt’s Secret History is the same sort of thing. It’s an amazing, jaw-dropping read about a scholar from a working-class family who goes to an exclusive New England university and falls in with a group of Greek scholars and their mysterous professor. Two murders happen in the course of the book – one solidifies the group of friends, and the other splits them apart. I can’t really tell you anything other than that, just that if you haven’t read it already, drop everything and run to your local library.
It’s also affected my Pantheon list. To explain briefly, over at my Goodreads site I have a list of novels that go beyond mere five stars – they belong in the Bookpusher Pantheon; desert island books. Last year I ranted, raved, and frothed to anyone who would listen about how wonderful Marisha Pessl’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics was. It immediately went into the Pantheon. After reading Secret History, I now realize that Special Topics cribbed from it; not that I’m accusing Pessl of ripping anything off, it’s just that both novels are similar in scope and style and tried to accomplish similar things.
So Special Topics got benched. First time for that. Now: off with you. Go read.
It’s been so long since I updated I forgot my wordpress password.
