I have to admit (somewhat shamefaced) that I am a serial non-finisher...I used to be a finish-it-no-matter-what in my youth, so I'm putting it down to getting more selective with my time as I get older! 😀
That's so interesting, Kate! I truly believe that it's only natural and healthy to change the way we go about certain things in life and I would not put it past me changing this habit sometime down the line!
I can't remember the last time I DNF'd a book. Similarly I commit. Perhaps I commit too much, because I just keep going and if I do not like it but need to finish, I will read it more so I can be done. I actually, upon reflection, don't know if this is healthy in a hobby, but tis how I do things.
I have definitely "devoured" books just for the sake of being done with them faster so I can move to hopefully better reads! I too don't know if it's the right way to approach things like reading for fun, but there's where I'm at now!
Thanks for sharing this and probing at the book responses that go beyond like/dislike. I can think of quite a few books where I didn’t enjoy the (emotional) experience of reading the book (the experience felt like work, it wasn’t absorbing in the way I desired, etc) but I was glad in the end to have read it, it satisfied the intellectual interest I had in picking it up - love how you articulated the distinction between these types of reading.
And sometimes books I think I’ll enjoy for an emotional reason I end up only appreciating intellectually, and books I pick up out of intellectual curiosity propel me into an emotional reading experience! You never know!
Thank you for your comment, Catherine! I truly believe that, just like there are different readers, there are different reading modes that each one of us reach for depending on the book--and sometimes they do get confused along the way, or suddenly you realize you need the one when you activated the other!
I am truly glad to know that my feelings have resonated with other readers! The nuances, the strangeness, the difficult-to-describe are some of the best experiences we can sit with as readers, I believe, and these don't fit well into neat star boxes!
I have to admit (somewhat shamefaced) that I am a serial non-finisher...I used to be a finish-it-no-matter-what in my youth, so I'm putting it down to getting more selective with my time as I get older! 😀
Serial non-finisher here!
I started a book club and now I have abandoned my readers. It's kinda hilarious that am not feeling guilty about it.
😄 that's hilarious! It's probably something I would end up doing...
I am going to apologize tonight for leaving the *book* in lurch, ha ha
This is a guilt-free space, even of not feeling guilt!
That's so interesting, Kate! I truly believe that it's only natural and healthy to change the way we go about certain things in life and I would not put it past me changing this habit sometime down the line!
I can't remember the last time I DNF'd a book. Similarly I commit. Perhaps I commit too much, because I just keep going and if I do not like it but need to finish, I will read it more so I can be done. I actually, upon reflection, don't know if this is healthy in a hobby, but tis how I do things.
I have definitely "devoured" books just for the sake of being done with them faster so I can move to hopefully better reads! I too don't know if it's the right way to approach things like reading for fun, but there's where I'm at now!
Thanks for sharing this and probing at the book responses that go beyond like/dislike. I can think of quite a few books where I didn’t enjoy the (emotional) experience of reading the book (the experience felt like work, it wasn’t absorbing in the way I desired, etc) but I was glad in the end to have read it, it satisfied the intellectual interest I had in picking it up - love how you articulated the distinction between these types of reading.
And sometimes books I think I’ll enjoy for an emotional reason I end up only appreciating intellectually, and books I pick up out of intellectual curiosity propel me into an emotional reading experience! You never know!
Thank you for your comment, Catherine! I truly believe that, just like there are different readers, there are different reading modes that each one of us reach for depending on the book--and sometimes they do get confused along the way, or suddenly you realize you need the one when you activated the other!
This voiced my own philosophy that I before now had not put into words! Wonderful, thank you.
This porousness been like and dislike is also why I’ve abandoned and generally dislike the 5-star review scale.
I am truly glad to know that my feelings have resonated with other readers! The nuances, the strangeness, the difficult-to-describe are some of the best experiences we can sit with as readers, I believe, and these don't fit well into neat star boxes!
🙌