Taking a break from the bi-weekly newsletter and trying out a community-building feature here on Substack - threads.
Every few months, I’ll post a question for us to chat about, share our opinions on, + overall be curious about.(Check out my answer to the question in the comments!) (and no, the questions won’t ALWAYS be about books - I promise)
I shouldn’t need to say this, but let’s all be kind … even if you don’t agree with someone’s response, don’t be rude or hurtful. 💀
The first book that comes to mind is "Little Women" - I know it has been much-hyped for decades, and the movie is still quite popular, but I could never get into it. I'm not sure if it's the time period it's set in or the way the characters are written, but I just couldn't bring myself to have a connection with them.
Extra: Anything by Hemingway. Never finished a book by him, despite my many attempts.
My high school English teacher once compared my writing to his, and when I went to read his work, I only got 10 pages in before my eyes glazed over (and I vowed to learn much more about writing because I never want that to be my style!)
Glad that you know what you don't like, Victoria! I like the premise of Little Women but the dialogue is a little too sweet for me, which could be attributed to time period. I read a lot of Hemingway in college and have a great deal of respect for the author's craft. To each their own, for sure.
Agreed on the dialogue - maybe that is a big reason why I couldn't get into it ... I felt like I couldn't find any way to relate to them, but maybe I was thinking too granular and missed the overall themes.
I have a lot of respect for Hemingway and his work, especially his place in writing history, but won't be going to him for inspiration anytime soon, haha.
One of the fiction books I read recently - which turned out to be a big favorite of mine - had a lot of reviews of folks saying they couldn't get into it, didn't understand where the story was going ... etc. All the more reason to give any book a shot, and let it go when reading feels like a punishment.
Life is too short to read books that don't resonate with where I am in my life at that moment. I tried to read Gone with the Wind in high school. (Grew up in Georgia in the 90s and it seemed like the thing to do.) I haven't gotten through the book or the movie and it is unlikely that I will pick either back up again.
I totally agree! I used to try and power through books, especially ones that were "required reading" or highly recommended for writers ... but sometimes, you just have to let it go. Not all books meet all audiences where they are.
Gone with the Wind - will totally admit that I've never read it. Saw the movie and appreciated it for what it was, but definitely didn't speak to me ... now a movie with James Dean in it, that's a whole other story :)
In college I majored in Japanese History and learned the language, so I tried to read (in Italian translation) many Japanese novels (the usual suspects: Mishima, Kawabata, Tanizaki) until I realized that 1) I found them mildly boring, and 2) I was reading them only because they were from Japan. If I remember well, I never finished both "The Golden Pavilion" and "Confessions of a Mask."
Another novel I couldn't finish (I actually stopped after a few pages) is Italo Svevo's "Zeno's Conscience." Ah, and Jean-Paul Sartre's "Nausea."
I majored in Japanese Language and Culture as well, though my spoken Japanese is beyond sad, haha. Another thing I'm practicing before my first trip to Japan.
Congrats to you for dropping those books when they weren't holding you. I certainly prefer some Japanese authors over others, and their writing style (especially when translated) is notably different from what you often see from Europe and the States.
Even my Japanese was rather bad when I first arrived in Tokyo. Nothing can replace practice when learning a foreign language.
One big change in my reading habits has been that years ago, I couldn't start a new book until I had finished the one I was reading at that moment. Now, on the contrary, I read two or three books at the same time.
Same here! I often read at least 2 books at a time, but they are usually very different, such as a nonfiction and a fiction or a nonfiction and a poetry book.
The first book that comes to mind is "Little Women" - I know it has been much-hyped for decades, and the movie is still quite popular, but I could never get into it. I'm not sure if it's the time period it's set in or the way the characters are written, but I just couldn't bring myself to have a connection with them.
Extra: Anything by Hemingway. Never finished a book by him, despite my many attempts.
My high school English teacher once compared my writing to his, and when I went to read his work, I only got 10 pages in before my eyes glazed over (and I vowed to learn much more about writing because I never want that to be my style!)
Glad that you know what you don't like, Victoria! I like the premise of Little Women but the dialogue is a little too sweet for me, which could be attributed to time period. I read a lot of Hemingway in college and have a great deal of respect for the author's craft. To each their own, for sure.
Agreed on the dialogue - maybe that is a big reason why I couldn't get into it ... I felt like I couldn't find any way to relate to them, but maybe I was thinking too granular and missed the overall themes.
I have a lot of respect for Hemingway and his work, especially his place in writing history, but won't be going to him for inspiration anytime soon, haha.
One of the fiction books I read recently - which turned out to be a big favorite of mine - had a lot of reviews of folks saying they couldn't get into it, didn't understand where the story was going ... etc. All the more reason to give any book a shot, and let it go when reading feels like a punishment.
Life is too short to read books that don't resonate with where I am in my life at that moment. I tried to read Gone with the Wind in high school. (Grew up in Georgia in the 90s and it seemed like the thing to do.) I haven't gotten through the book or the movie and it is unlikely that I will pick either back up again.
I totally agree! I used to try and power through books, especially ones that were "required reading" or highly recommended for writers ... but sometimes, you just have to let it go. Not all books meet all audiences where they are.
Gone with the Wind - will totally admit that I've never read it. Saw the movie and appreciated it for what it was, but definitely didn't speak to me ... now a movie with James Dean in it, that's a whole other story :)
In college I majored in Japanese History and learned the language, so I tried to read (in Italian translation) many Japanese novels (the usual suspects: Mishima, Kawabata, Tanizaki) until I realized that 1) I found them mildly boring, and 2) I was reading them only because they were from Japan. If I remember well, I never finished both "The Golden Pavilion" and "Confessions of a Mask."
Another novel I couldn't finish (I actually stopped after a few pages) is Italo Svevo's "Zeno's Conscience." Ah, and Jean-Paul Sartre's "Nausea."
I majored in Japanese Language and Culture as well, though my spoken Japanese is beyond sad, haha. Another thing I'm practicing before my first trip to Japan.
Congrats to you for dropping those books when they weren't holding you. I certainly prefer some Japanese authors over others, and their writing style (especially when translated) is notably different from what you often see from Europe and the States.
Even my Japanese was rather bad when I first arrived in Tokyo. Nothing can replace practice when learning a foreign language.
One big change in my reading habits has been that years ago, I couldn't start a new book until I had finished the one I was reading at that moment. Now, on the contrary, I read two or three books at the same time.
Same here! I often read at least 2 books at a time, but they are usually very different, such as a nonfiction and a fiction or a nonfiction and a poetry book.
Exactly. I'm currently reading an old hard-boiled novel by Charles Willeford and a book on The Avengers (the Brit TV series from the '60s)