Whilst at University I had a hefty book list to work through every semester which usually averaged at around 3 books a week. This sounds like a lot but what was so marvellous was the fact that reading was solely what I was supposed to be doing at that time, I was a full time student and I could dedicate as much time as there were hours in the day to devouring all these books that were being thrown my way. Wonderful yes but a struggle sometimes when you're faced with an 800 page book that you're just not really getting, it's just not clicked with you and the looming pages on the unread side of the bookmark do not seem to be going down. This is when reading becomes a chore.
At University when this was the case I had no choice but to plough on, I had to treat myself every 50 pages with a piece of chocolate or a drink to keep motivated as ultimately I had to finish these certain books to pass the unit. It did take a while however to change this mentality once I had graduated from University and could read what I wanted, when I wanted with no lecturer looming over me to ask what I thought the author meant when they wrote chapter 7 or what the significance of the colour red was etc etc. I was no longer reading in order to write an essay, I was now reading for pleasure.
One of favourite YouTubers; Carrie Fletcher, made a video in 2013 called "Finish Fewer Books" in which she discusses why we feel the need to finish books that we are not enjoying and why we feel guilty or like failures for "giving up" on a book. She goes on to say that she believes that life is too short to force ourselves to read books that we are not enjoying and I 100% agree with her sentiment. We wouldn't continue to eat a meal that we didn't like the taste of or wear a pair of shoes that were hurting our feet so where does this guilt come from when it comes to books?
Here is my own small list of haven't but should have read books:
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien- I just have never got round to reading these, even watching the films was lengthy so I can only imagine what reading the books would be like- I've heard from others that the lengthy descriptions of the land and scenery can become tiresome.
- Catch 22 by Joseph Heller- This is actually on my 'to read' list on Goodreads and I have the physical book on my shelf at home but I have literally just never put the time aside to read it. No excuses. Just laziness.
- Animal Farm by George Orwell- It has just never happened. This book bypassed me through all my years in education and its just never been a book that I have chosen to read from the library since.
- Popular YA fiction such as The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer or The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins- I'm not going to lie....I just don't get it. I loves me some Harry Potter so it's not the fantasy element that I don't like but I just can't get into these books .......and finally
- Shakespeare and poetry- I have not read any Shakespeare or picked up a poetry book since leaving eduction in 2010 and I totally feel 'un-booky' for admitting this.
I would love to hear some of your 'haven't but should' reads in the comments below so that I don't feel like such a literary failure.
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Hello and welcome to This Ruth Is On Fire, a UK blog which is a haven for random thoughts and sarcastic observations.
I'm also into books, clothes and visiting places too.
