Do you read the books that people consider a ‘must read’?
I admit that I usually don’t. My contrary nature usually kicks in if people wave books at me and say, ‘You’ve got to read this! It’s fantastic!’ I’m more inclined to read a book if I see you’ve given it a good review than if you try and convince me it’s in my best interest to do so.
Then there are those books out there that everyone thinks are fabulous, but have they read them? My father, who was bookseller for many years, tells the story of a customer who used to buy Penguin books as soon as they came out, but he later confessed to my father that he never read any of them. He just liked the way they looked on his shelf. Maybe they made him feel like an intellectual.
Anatole France once said, ‘The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads’. I agree with this assessment. The ones that get the highest praise are often purchased and not read. I was at a writers’ conference a while ago and someone was speaking about a book that a lot of people bought, but no one had ever read past the third chapter. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
While these books may be the ones considered wine by many, I think, like Mark Twain, I’d prefer it if my books are like water. As Twain put it, ‘My books are water; those of the great geniuses are wine. Everybody drinks water.’ I don’t think my books would ever be considered wine, but I’m fine with that.
“Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.”
― Voltaire, Candide
You can see from my reviews what suits my taste. Sometimes I enjoy books the masses have recommended (The Giver, The Hunger Games); sometimes I do not (Wuthering Heights, Moll Flanders). I try to read to please myself, and hope that in writing reviews, I can help others to find what they might like.
It depends. If it is a book that a good friend who knows my taste recommends, I’ll look into it. If it’s a book that a reader friend recommends, I will look into it. But if I don’t think it sounds like my cup of tea, I’ll ignore the recommendation. If there’s a bunch of hype about a book, it usually takes me longer to check it out, like with Harry Potter and Twilight, because I’m afraid it won’t live up to the hype. But I usually cave because I’m curious to know what it is about that story or book that has everyone talking. I’ll admit to being curious with the huge reaction to the Divergent series lately. I almost want to read it just to see why everyone was so upset with the end, but I won’t spend much, if anything, to do so. I read what I think I’ll like, and sometimes I’ll read to find out what someone else sees in something (like Wuthering Heights, which I still don’t understand), but I don’t read things just because I “should” anymore. I had enough of that (e.g. Moby Dick, a.k.a the most boring book ever written) in High School English class.