Category: Books Page 64 of 161

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you suggest new authors to your readers?

I sure hope I do! I don’t know that I’ve read (and therefore blogged/suggested) a lot of debut authors in 2022, but there have been a decent number of new-to-me authors that I’ve recommended.

But every author is a new author to someone—there are people out there who’ve never read James Patterson, Beverly Cleary, or Harper Lee in the same way that some people haven’t read a debut author or one with just a couple of titles under their belt. So in a way, I try to suggest a new author in every post here.

And that’s one of the joys of this little hobby, when someone tells me that they started reading Author X because of my encouragement.

So yeah, new authors, new-to-me-authors, older authors, newbies, experienced pros, mid-list authors, perennial best-sellers, relative unknowns, people who should be well-known, people who maybe shouldn’t be…I try to cover them all.

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

Are you lost if you don’t have a book to read?

Lost doesn’t begin to describe it, really. Up until a few years ago, it’d happen occasionally. I’d read things faster than I could get to the library, I wouldn’t have money for a trip to the bookstore, I couldn’t find anything at a bookstore/library that struck my mood, and so on (okay, that last one didn’t happen too often…but it happened a couple of times, I swear). I’d usually resort to re-reading something, but that didn’t always work.

When that happened, I would be moody and irritable. Which isn’t exactly lost, I know. But being lost does that to me, I guess.

Mercifully, I haven’t been in that state for a couple of years. I’m at the point now where I should read 4 more books by the end of the week to get back on schedule (and could say the same almost every Wednesday). Sure, I have the occasional moment of indecision about what to read next, but it doesn’t last long.

Like I talked about back when the prompt was about using the Kindle app on your phone, nowadays I have a book with me everywhere I go. They’re a handy way to deal with the stress, boredom, ennui, annoyance, etc. that comes from being stuck someplace (including social situations you’re not that interested in).

I have a nagging sensation that I left off something I meant to say here, but this is close enough. I’m gonna go read.

Do You Need to Have a Book at All Times?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Have you ever skipped ahead to read the ending?

To quote one of my favorite Flight Of The Conchords songs:

Why? Why? Why?
What?
Why exactly?
What? Why?

Okay, in some non-fiction works, I can see reading the conclusion after the introduction so you get an idea of where the argument is going—I had a professor tell us that was the way to read a book (I think he was drawing on Mortimer Adler’s lousy book). I will do that occasionally (well, I’ll skim the last chapter) to help me focus on the bigger things the book focuses on.

But that’s not what the question is talking about, is it? Nah, this is about novels—glancing to the end to see if the butler really did to it, and so on. I know it’s done, but I don’t get it. Sure we all want to find out what happens at the end of the book–but what’s the point if you know that Wade Watts wins James Halliday’s contest if you don’t know how he won it?* It’s great to know that Mark Watney gets rescued, but the point is to know how he survives. We know that whatever guy that Stephanie Plum is hunting down will be captured/killed/cleared—the pleasure isn’t getting there, it’s the mishaps along the way. I feel like I should be going, but I think the point is made—and I’m having a hard time finding well-known examples to give without spoilers.

* Also, we’re told really early on that he wins, so maybe that’s not the best example. Or maybe it is.

Yes, the endings are important. If only to motivate you through some dull/problematic parts so you can find out the ending. But if all you want is the ending to the book—check out wikipedia or some other website. Even if you know and enjoy learning the ending, you can’t fully appreciate all of it unless you’ve got the context of the rest of the book. Novels aren’t just beginnings and endings—they’re about the work as a whole. It’s the stuff between the first and last chapters that makes them worth the time and effort—why cheat yourself?

It just seems rather pointless to me.

Unless, of course, you’re Harry Burns, who has one of the weirder boasts in cinematic history:

When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side.

I dunno, maybe I can be convinced—not convinced to try, but convinced that people who do this aren’t missing something.

Am I out to lunch here? Let me hear what you think!