Alan Asnen's Blog - Posts Tagged "reading"
In Defense of Readers
[This also appears as a "review" of my book, WE MUST AN ANGUISH PAY...]
I had a friend once (no, this is a true story, and not my story...well, of course it is MY story, but it really is about my friend...). His name was Jim. He was well-educated and well-read. He wanted to write a book, and specifically a mystery.
So. He went to our local bookstore, famous Moe’s in Berkeley, every week, where they fairly traded in used books as well as new, and got a grocery bag full of used mystery novels, and he read through them. Every week. And every Saturday he went back to Moe’s, traded that bag in for another bag and read through that bag, went back the next Saturday, etcetera.
He never wrote that book.
Now, I’ve also been a lover of mystery novels throughout my life, although I never read through as many as Jim. I’ve read my share, mind you. Had I gone through Jim’s peregrinations, perhaps I never would have written a word, either. You see, Jim’s problem would have become mine.
He was a good reader, and reading all of that, most of which he could tell was crap, stunted him.
To make matters even worse, this took place years and years ago, before access to eBooks. If this happened today... My goodness, I think I would jump off a building!!! (if I could find one high enough...). I have read selections of some of what is being written today and if I had to read all the way through...
Of course, I know some people say the same about my books, and thus we come to the point. I do come to the point after a fashion. And that is often their complaint. And that, too, is the point.
I don’t write for everyone. Who does? Stephen King, perhaps. But even he doesn’t, consciously. One of the more popular writers today, Harlan Coben, receives some absolutely horrific reviews from readers. You should see them! And you should see the terrific sales reports for some of the WORST WRITERS in the history of the English language.
There. I said it. And screw them. And screw anyone who likes them and takes offense for me having said it. I don’t need their approval.
No. I am not being defensive. I am being supportive of everyone who writes for their own readers. Like all of the people, people who actually enjoy “reading,” who have enjoyed reading my books, and Harlan Coben’s books (not that they are all that much alike...) and anyone else’s who “get’s it.”
Which doesn’t mean that everyone has to.
Doris Lessing (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature some time ago) told people not to waste their time reading her books or anyone else’s if they didn’t “get it.” Read the first fifty pages or so, she said, and if you didn’t like it, toss it and move on. Too many other books to read. But... You don’t have to be judgmental about it.
Like I am. But, then, I haven’t won the Nobel Prize.
Yet.
Screw them, too.
I had a friend once (no, this is a true story, and not my story...well, of course it is MY story, but it really is about my friend...). His name was Jim. He was well-educated and well-read. He wanted to write a book, and specifically a mystery.
So. He went to our local bookstore, famous Moe’s in Berkeley, every week, where they fairly traded in used books as well as new, and got a grocery bag full of used mystery novels, and he read through them. Every week. And every Saturday he went back to Moe’s, traded that bag in for another bag and read through that bag, went back the next Saturday, etcetera.
He never wrote that book.
Now, I’ve also been a lover of mystery novels throughout my life, although I never read through as many as Jim. I’ve read my share, mind you. Had I gone through Jim’s peregrinations, perhaps I never would have written a word, either. You see, Jim’s problem would have become mine.
He was a good reader, and reading all of that, most of which he could tell was crap, stunted him.
To make matters even worse, this took place years and years ago, before access to eBooks. If this happened today... My goodness, I think I would jump off a building!!! (if I could find one high enough...). I have read selections of some of what is being written today and if I had to read all the way through...
Of course, I know some people say the same about my books, and thus we come to the point. I do come to the point after a fashion. And that is often their complaint. And that, too, is the point.
I don’t write for everyone. Who does? Stephen King, perhaps. But even he doesn’t, consciously. One of the more popular writers today, Harlan Coben, receives some absolutely horrific reviews from readers. You should see them! And you should see the terrific sales reports for some of the WORST WRITERS in the history of the English language.
There. I said it. And screw them. And screw anyone who likes them and takes offense for me having said it. I don’t need their approval.
No. I am not being defensive. I am being supportive of everyone who writes for their own readers. Like all of the people, people who actually enjoy “reading,” who have enjoyed reading my books, and Harlan Coben’s books (not that they are all that much alike...) and anyone else’s who “get’s it.”
Which doesn’t mean that everyone has to.
Doris Lessing (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature some time ago) told people not to waste their time reading her books or anyone else’s if they didn’t “get it.” Read the first fifty pages or so, she said, and if you didn’t like it, toss it and move on. Too many other books to read. But... You don’t have to be judgmental about it.
Like I am. But, then, I haven’t won the Nobel Prize.
Yet.
Screw them, too.
