"Rules" for What's Allowed in a Book
I just discovered a reviewer who seems to have interesting things to say (not about my books; she was reviewing something else). But when I went to look at her profile, I was dismayed to discover that she has "rules" for what she will and won't tolerate in a book.
I don't, and I think people who limit themselves like that are missing out. Sure, there are things I'm not all that interested in: sports, for example. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't read a book about sports because what matters to me is great writing and storytelling. That's it. That's all I require.
I really think that prohibiting love triangles or twins or wartime stories or whatever in one's reading is self-defeating. How do we grow except by exposing ourselves to new things? How do we learn? My goodness, if we don't broaden our horizons, what kind of person will we be in five years, or ten, or forty? Someone life has passed by, I should think.
I will continue to follow this reviewer because she seems to hold minority opinions, and that's something I want to know about. But I do hope she changes her mind about her rules. Because life is too short to put up walls around ourselves.
I don't, and I think people who limit themselves like that are missing out. Sure, there are things I'm not all that interested in: sports, for example. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't read a book about sports because what matters to me is great writing and storytelling. That's it. That's all I require.
I really think that prohibiting love triangles or twins or wartime stories or whatever in one's reading is self-defeating. How do we grow except by exposing ourselves to new things? How do we learn? My goodness, if we don't broaden our horizons, what kind of person will we be in five years, or ten, or forty? Someone life has passed by, I should think.
I will continue to follow this reviewer because she seems to hold minority opinions, and that's something I want to know about. But I do hope she changes her mind about her rules. Because life is too short to put up walls around ourselves.
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James
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Jul 21, 2016 12:51PM
I agree. Too many people have too many self-limiting rules in their lives. Reading is no exception.
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James wrote: "I agree. Too many people have too many self-limiting rules in their lives. Reading is no exception."Thanks, James. Never say "Never." :)
I think you are right Paula. Like you I'm not very interested in sports, but when I was in collage I took a course on sports literature just because it was a subject I knew little about. So I read novels that revolved around football (what Americans would call soccer), American football, baseball, cricket, running and some other sports. I thought the course was fun, it had interesting well written stories, and I got to know a little bit about sports which I didn't know anything before.
Hákon wrote: "I think you are right Paula. Like you I'm not very interested in sports, but when I was in collage I took a course on sports literature just because it was a subject I knew little about. So I read ..."That's interesting, Hákon! I feel a challenge coming on. I think I will deliberately read a sports novel, even if I think the sport is really, really boring. Do you have any recommendations for something excellent?
Okay, I'll try to recommend some good sports novels. None of the sports novels I've read is very recent, but these are the ones I remember the best.Sports fishing: A River Runs Through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean is a very good, and it's short. The story revolves around father and sons who seem to have one thing in common, fishing. Another fishing story, but perhaps not about sports fishing excactly is How I Came to Know Fish by Ota Pavel. It takes place around the World War II. Sometimes fishing is a sport, other times a way of survival. This is one of my favorite books of all times.
Cricket: Bodyline by Paul Wheeler was quite an interesting historical novel about a match between Australia and England where things got so heated that it became an incident on a political level.
Football: The Thistle and the Grail by Robin Jenkins is a realistic novel about a team from a small town that gets very far in the tournament, and the people around the team.
I hope you can find an interesting sports book to read. Now I think you have to challenge me to read something too.
Hákon wrote: "Okay, I'll try to recommend some good sports novels. None of the sports novels I've read is very recent, but these are the ones I remember the best.Sports fishing: [book:A River Runs Through It an..."
Wow, thank you so much! I'm going to add all of these to my list. I'm looking forward to trying them.
What shall I challenge you to do? What sorts of books do you find unappealing that you'd be willing to try?
Well I usually don't read romance or horror, so maybe something in either of those genre.
Hákon wrote: "Well I usually don't read romance or horror, so maybe something in either of those genre."Okay. How about a nice Stephen King book, such as The Shining or Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, which has both romance and an eerie feel to it?
Thanks Paula, that sounds interesting. I saw the film that was based on The Shining years ago, and thought it was good, but I've never read it, and I've never read anything by any of the Bronte sisters. So I'm going to look Wuthering Heights up.
Hákon wrote: "Thanks Paula, that sounds interesting. I saw the film that was based on The Shining years ago, and thought it was good, but I've never read it, and I've never read anything by any of the Bronte sis..."Well, let's see how we do with these challenges. If we don't like the books, we don't. But if we do, wow!
Completely agreed. Personal tastes are different, so maybe we like the books, and maybe not. But it will be fun to read something different. :-)
I am rather narrow in what I read in that I pretty much only read SFF and stick to YA and up, and I'm picky because I know what I like want to choose books I might actually enjoy, but I don't think there's anything that I absolutely will not read about. Like, maybe I'm not all that interested in boarding school books, but if I come across one that does sound interesting for other reasons, I wouldn't stop myself just because it has a boarding school in it. And lately I've been trying to take a little more chances on things because I feel like that's what I did a couple years ago when I got back into reading, I didn't scrutinize everything quite as much before making decisions, and I found a lot of books I really loved! But I suppose it doesn't really bother me if someone else wants to limit themselves in any specific way. I think everyone should read in whatever way is enjoyable to them :-)
