Reading Books

That's what people say when they have just read and finished a novel they find to be in the category above good- Great. I just couldn't put it down! I don't say this, because I judge a book by a whole different cover. To me if a novel is truly great and pulls me in for a ride I say "I just couldn't sit down!

Huh? Well when I come to a particular portion of a story, when I'm so engrossed in the story itself, eat and breathe the characters, I put the book down. Then I stand up, and start pacing thinking about what it would be like to be in that particular time of the tale. Think about what I would do as the characters, what I would do as a completely different character I make up to fit in the events. In the extreme sense, what I would do as myself in the story (fantasized of course).

Maybe you're thinking I do more daydreaming than reading. And that maybe accurate, but it's the book that makes me daydream so, and when it does I consider it a great one.

(Like Illium by Dan Simmons anyone else read this?)

"Boredom is the Ultimate Gateway Drug"- Atheist_Uprising

I actually think that I agree with you. I am not so inclined to get up and pace, as I find myself better able to think sitting down when I read, I do find myself becoming absorbed in a book. It's not so much daydreaming, as allowing yourself to let go and get away from reality. It is the ability of the reader to relate to a character that makes a good book, and author.

Good friends'll bail you out of jail.Best friends'll be sittin with you sayin;'Damn, we f*cked up'.

I suppose I have a too cynical view of writing to fantasize about the plot and characters, (Or perhaps it is because I've been reading too many cruddy crank-em-out and sell-em-fast books, but hey, thats another thread) and I just feel that sitting around and thinking too much into wrecks the mood and pacing of a book. That isn't to say that a good book shouldn't stimulate thought, but if I were to set down a book and mull it over, just as it started to get really hairy, I'd be wasting all the good tension-building and mood-developing and whatnot that I like in a good book.

For me, there are two signs that I really like a book. I make weird little hiccups because I'm too tense to breathe properly, and that I start applying the new perspectives I've gained from the book to my own life. Of course, these two things don't always come together. I was wired and hiccupy during the fourth Harry Potter book (partially because of sleep deprivation, I read slow, and I read it all in one go) and during some real entertaining and exciting fantasy and whathaveyou books. The real classics, literature, are often less riveting (so no hiccups) but they stick around in my brain, and sort of tint my perspectives a different color for a while. What once was plain is now pretty, what once was simple is now complex, the people I once disliked I now respect, yada, yada.

So, yeah. I'm not going to set down a book and mull it over once it really gets going.

Ta-da!

I tend to have more of a memory for books that I do have to put down and walk away from, give some thought to, and go back to once I have put what the author is saying into perspective.

Yeah, I couldn't put down "Da Vinci Code" or "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown, but ultimately a quick read just wants me want more and I feel dissatisfied when the temporary distraction has ended.

Sure, quick reads are entertaining and sometimes thought provoking, but books that I think are REALLY good are the ones I must put down. For example

Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet"

Herman Hesse's "Siddhartha"

Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and "Lila"

"Celestine Prophecy" by whatshisname

Lynne Truss "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"

to name a few. I don't have a photographic memory, as a matter of fact, unless I write myself a sticky note and stick it to the end of my nose I may even forget my glasses before I leave the house- this makes driving quite a challenge. If I feel rushed by a story, or read quickly through I will lose details that I'm pretty sure leak out of my ears while I sleep at night.

WhatI'm saying is that if you have a book suggestion for a title that took you a long time to read because you had to set it aside, have a cup of tea, write some notes, talk to a friend and then get back to the book after having digested what was written, please let me know. I love to put it down!!

I am just me, searching for simplicity.........and a good hair stylist