reading process

Procrastireading

shallowreader 4 Comments

Procrastiread / prô’kræstairid/ verb (procrastiread, procrastireading) – 1. to delay finishing a book: I procrastiread my last book for three days. 2. purposely reading slowly so as to not reach the end of a book: the reader was procrastireading because of an emotional connection with the characters of a book in such a deep-felt way that to end the book would result in severing the relationship. [Latin]  – procrastireader, n.

Have you ever found yourself reading a book whose characters endear you, become your friends, become your soulmates and envelop you into their lives to the point that soon you realise that you are half way through your book? And with every page you are getting closer to the end of your relationship with these people. Sure, you are the passive person in this relationship where all others are walking, talking and interacting with each other yet ignoring you. But you are the one who is setting the pace, you are the one that decides when the next words in their story will be read. You are the one that can evoke a procrastiread.

The other day, on Twitter, I took part in a short exchange where @stephjhodgson tweeted that she was stretching the ending of the Stieg Larsson series, @Wateryone asked me if there was a word for that.

I couldn’t find an Oxford Dictionary word or definition for this behaviour . But now, there is a word that we can all use – procrastireading/procrastiread

Over the years there have been few books that I have procrastiread. For the most part, if I am enjoying a book, I need to finish it quickly. I fly through it. I stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning with my obsessive need to know how it finishes despite the fact that I read the ending before I started the book and despite the fact that I will be a mess at work that day. But once in a while I am captured. I am enchanted by every word and phrase. I am lost within the book and I just don’t want it to finish. So I stretch out my reading experience over a number of days.

My most memorable procrastiread has been Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. Not only are the main characters Cal and Min perfectly matched with their sharp banter from the beginning of the story but their friends also became my friends. I felt captured by them. I was engaged and amused by the narrative and the dialogue. I was invested in these people and as I felt the thickness of the book’s pages in my right hand lessen, I realised that I no longer would have these wonderful friends with me. They would cease to exist. But not if I read only sections at a time. Slowly, savouring each exchange and every nuance. And once I came to the end of the story, I was thankful to Jennifer Crusie who gave me a snapshot epilogue of “Where are they now” for each wonderful character.

I really do miss them.

Have you ever found yourself procrastireading?

 

 

On why more fairies will die

shallowreader 14 Comments

It is a well known fact that every time someone reads the ending of a book before they start – a fairy dies.  I am not making this up. It is true. If you want to know more about the origins of fairies dying you must read BookThingo’s Spoiling a Happy Ending where the whole idea is explained, in depth.

Readers, in general, fall into two categories – those that can’t bear to know the ending of a book, who enjoy a story unravelling around them and read in anticipation of the final moments, and then there are readere who like knowing how a book ends so that they can enjoy the journey without the page turning anxiety of needing to know if the hero and heroine will make it in the end. I am of the latter proclivity. I will read the ending, assure myself that ends in a way that satisfies me and then I will start the journey. It is particularly good for me to read reviews with *spoilers* so I don’t have to read the endings.

In the case of spoilers, a fairy is only maimed. Perhaps a missing limb.

But let me tell you why I am this way:

I started reading the end of books at about 12 years of age. Up until then, for the most part, I had grown up reading children’s fiction which was funny, positively conclusive, life affirming and, in general, a happy read. Then I started entering the world of tear jerkers. Books where you are torn apart with grief.

I remember sitting in Marrickville Children’s Library reading Lois Lowry’s A Summer To Die horrified that Meg’s sister Molly dies. Horrified! Firstly, I was reading and sobbing in a public space that I was not comfortable in. (That may sound odd but, in actual fact, my local library branch The Warren Library in South Marrickville had been closed down a year earlier. I no longer visited the library daily but could go only once a fortnight)…..so anyway….I’m sitting in the corner sobbing with red blotchy eyes but yet unable to stop reading a compelling, touching story.

I learnt my lesson that day. I never again read a book in the library. All books were to be consumed at home. Reading was no longer public.

By the time I read Katherine Paterson’s Jacob Have I Loved I became used to the idea that crying was just part of the story, as were dying people, manipulative relationships and finding your own way in life. To counter-balance these sadness filled novels I discovered the wonderful world of romance novels. And in particular, Mills and Boon.

Short and contemporary, they were easy to hide in your foolscap folder so that your father couldn’t see them when he was checking that you were doing your homework. And best of all they ended happily.

That is, until Anne Weale’s A Portrait for Bethany. In A Portrait for Bethany, Bethany ends up with the WRONG man. WRONG MAN! YES I AM SHOUTING! IT’S IS NEARLY 25 YEARS LATER AND I STILL HAVEN’T RECOVERED. After traumatic Bethany, I never trusted a book again.

So it would have been about…ummm…let say…..25 years ago that I started reading the back page of every novel I read. I read about 100 books a year so that comes to approximately 2500 dead fairies. Now, I did slip into complacency at one stage and stopped reading the last pages of any Harlequin Mills and Boon that I purchased. They were a given Happily Ever After. Guaranteed. The “formula” said so. I was safe! (let’s quickly re-calculate that number. Perhaps drop it to 1800 dead fairies).

Then disaster struck. Late last year, I purchased an auto-buy Harlequin Mills and Boon author, Lynne Graham. Now I adore Lynne Graham’s books. They have incredulous plots with engaging, emotional narratives leading the reader to be enthralled at how she manages to pull it all together. I was on the edge with The Pregnancy Shock but when it ended without closure I was horrified. I would have loved to have thrown the book at my wall but my wall has some lovely prints hanging off it so the floor had to do.

How could the author, editor, publisher, marketing group, janitor and building supervisor do this to Harlequin Mills and Boon readers. How could they do this to fairies? How could they misunderstand the reasons that any woman will tolerate those awful titles and mostly stupid covers is because the HEA is king. Forget Content is King. HEA is the absolute rule here. As romance readers, we will tolerate awful plots, shocking phrases (I’m looking at you Miss Paullina “she looked up at his face but it was as closed as a bank on a public holiday” Simons), ludicrous premises and sometimes Alpha-Brutes that you wouldn’t let approach you with a ten-foot barge pole. We readers will put up with all that for an HEA.

(Please Note: most romances are beautiful, brilliant, well constructed , wonderfully researched, emotionally charged and full of snappy dialogue that would make Al Jaffee proud).

The thing is that since The Pregnancy Shock I now distrust Harlequin Mills and Boon again. I now read their back pages just as I read the back pages of all novels. And sadly, I have come across several that end in an “…there’s more to come” way. And even more sadly, more fairies are dying than needs to be the case.

PS. Should you be a fairy killer and use twitter, remember to use #afairydies.

The BookGroup you’re having when you’re not having a bookgroup

shallowreader 5 Comments

or Why pubs make great venues for bookgroups

On the 2nd Wednesday of every month I walk down to my local pub to talk with other readers about thingys we have read. And yes, these get togethers are as vague as that first sentence. But let me start at the beginning.

Nearly 10 years ago, my local barista/friend/reading pal asked if I was interested in starting a bookgroup with her at the coffee shop she owned. She found that she was constantly chatting with her customers about books and this was affecting queues for coffee. The inaugural meeting was held with many of her customers, both male and female, turning up.

On that day there were several things that everyone agreed upon:

1. No-one wanted to feel like they were in a classroom. They did not want book notes, study notes, analysis or anything that might remind them of their school years. [My kind of people!]

2. The idea of 1 book that everyone had to read was distasteful. Choosing a single title that would appeal to the broad group would be too hard. Everyone agreed that a themed bookgroup was best. [Internal cheers]

3. Everyone had an equal voice. There was to be no scoffing, no derision, all reading and all choices were valid. [Yay! I could take romances with the knowledge that I didn’t have to roll my eyes and sneer at literary snobbery]

We eventually came to have a Number 4:

4. Cheers for most tenuous link between the subject and the reading choice. [This has become a highlight in our monthly meetings with the best ever tenuous link being someone who read a biography on Fidel Castro for the topic Infidelity and my own win with Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Heaven, Texas for the topic of Church and State]

At first, we met up at Muse Cafe in Summer Hill. Once our friend, who owned the cafe,  sold up we chose to also move and after various unsuccessful venue choices we decided upon Summer Hill pub. I must point out that the then owners of Cafe Decolata (another of Summer Hill’s many cafes) were fabulously accommodating! Despite the fact they closed at 5pm they gave the group the keys to the cafe and we met there after hours for as long as we liked which we did for several sessions. But the eating & drinking options weren’t available to us so we had to move on.  The Pub provided us with a relaxed environment where no-one felt obliged to purchase a meal or a drink yet we had the ability to stay for as long as we liked. We have had the occasional clash with a rowdy football game but shouting across a table as to why you loved the latest romance or murder mystery you have read can be surprisingly cathartic.

Over the years, our themes have ranged from the sea, 3, music, blue, elections, feminism, blokes, beer, Russia, design and the list goes on. We also have had a variety of formats. Our reading extends beyond fiction and includes non-fiction, poetry, song lyrics (which on one occassion were sung and accompanied by guitar), plays, picture books, Hansard, essays, films and television scripts. Our members are a varied lot of people. With a good mix of males and females, we’ve had some very interesting people come and go. From teachers, baristas, ministers (well only 1 really but he was with us for a long time & we wish he hadn’t been transferred to Newcastle), librarians [moi!], academics, illustrators, marketers, teens, parents and even the occasional appearance from some of our kids presenting the book that they have read. Some of us have formed friendships over the years yet, for the most part, our strongest connection is meeting at the local to talk about our topic once a month.

In 2006, I saw the first write up of this type of book group in Library Journal as to the value [and in my opinion, a much more welcome model] of thematic book clubs. I was impressed. This article articulated the organic way our group operated. It also highlighted that by opening up to a theme based approach reading choices allowed diverse choices, less structure and suited to people who are not similar in their reading habits but just want an opportunity to share their reading experiences with others.

FAQs:

Do I think a library would be a better venue? No! Libraries close too early and they don’t serve beer.

How can you too have a group like the one I belong too? I don’t know. How does one meet an open-minded, reading friendly publican/coffee shop owner willing to provide the space and spread the word to their customers?

Does this type of bookgroup suit everyone? Not at all. We have had many people turn up for one meeting only to leave exasperated at our lack of focusing on one book and our tangential conversations.

And how does a laissez-faire group of people with no leader manage to keep meeting for 10 years? I’d say common courtesy and a desperation to share their reading experiences with anyone other than their immediate families who may or may not be readers.

Now, I must clarify, that the rest of the group are not Shallow Readers. They have depth……. and they will all happily acknowledged that I am the shallow one.

Books of Christmas Past

shallowreader 2 Comments

Despite being a book fiend, I am more than happy to not receive books for Christmas. I prefer that most people keep far far away from choosing a book for me. See, I’m funny in my reading tastes – as are most people – and what may resonate with many and hit the bestseller lists rarely interests me.

Let me give you some examples:

Christmas books from previous years that did not hit the mark:

How Late it was, How late – James Kelman

Welcome to the Monkey House – Kurt Vonnegut

The Snapper – Roddy Doyle

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Berniere

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Full series by Janet Evanovich (this one should have been full of win because she’s a fave author yet 4 years later they still have a ribbon wrapped around them)

A Little Bush Maid by Mary Grant Bruce (I mean, seriously! I couldn’t get past the title page)

and many many more.

I’m a Libra – let’s aim for some balance in this blog post!

Christmas books from previous years that did hit the mark:

Lake Woebegone Days by Garrison Keillor

Perfect English by Ros Byam Shaw

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris

Twitterature by Aciman and Resin

Neither of these lists are exhaustive as I have received many more books than I can be bothered to remember. The books on the first list must have many wonderful qualities  for them to have inspired many a reader to buy and many a bookseller/librarian to recommend them but sadly they were not able to interest me at all. I cannot pinpoint why some books grab me from the first page yet others with similar elements just leave me cold. And certainly, if I can’t put my finger on this elusive quality it would be near impossible for someone else to guarantee I will like their selection. This year, I have been especially lucky. I only received two books and both books were hits. I received Things Bogans Like and a 4-novels-in-one Mills and Boon Summer Special collection.

Reading choices are very personal and subjective. There are so many aspects to selecting a book starting from aesthetically pleasing elements such as great cover art, beautiful paper stock, well designed layout and a well chosen font. Once we overcome the form over function aspect of book selection we start looking at the content. From well written prose, dialogue intense, character driven, settings, genres, time periods, sex, no sex, gruesome murder, cozy mysteries, steampunk, graphic novels, romances, tragic love stories, epic poetry, adventure, pirate books, fantasy, unicorns, faeries, trolls, travel, war, monarchies, geishas, revolutions, classic literature and the list does go on and on and on and on….. Enter the quagmire of book selection for other at your risk!

I appreciate the sentiment behind the book as a gift but unless it is a surefire win (ie, I have told you that I want a specific title) and you really insist on buying me books, opt for the gift that doubles in giving by purchasing me a bookshop gift card instead. I don’t think that this is impersonal – it is highly practical and more likely to not end up at my kids’ school fete’s book stall next year.

I do wonder though, for all the lovely book gifts, how many givers of books didn’t really stay up all night wrapping gifts (it did come in a gift box, after all) but were up furiously reading, making sure they didn’t break the spine and finishing that wonderful book that they would have loved for someone to have bought them instead.