Reading, Re-reading, and Who I Let In My Head
Picky. I'm picky about reading fiction. Fiction has this special kind of magic, because it lets you live in someone else's world, someone else's head. It lets you play with the idea of being someone else, with all that entails. And because it all happens in your head, there's a particular kind of intimacy about it. A conversation takes place between you and the writer, as you think about what you're reading - what you're experiencing by proxy - and measure your world view against theirs. Or their characters (or not, because sometimes reading is just for fun).
I tend to wind up in a really intimate relationship with the books I read for fun. I'm serious that way (if no other). That makes me really picky about the voice of the author and their characters, because if I get really lucky, I'll want to visit them over and over again. My favorites? Have been read and re-read, over and over again, for years. And if there's someone who gets added to that list, I celebrate the hell out of that because it's rare. It involves trust and fun and thinking and respect and pleasure, not to mention days and days of daydreaming and head-canon character building.
I've been lucky this year in that two new authors have been added to my list of writers for whom I plan to read EVERY SINGLE THING THEY EVER PRODUCE. And they're both relatively new authors, too. Write faster, guys, write faster.* If you're curious, they are Andy Weir and Scott Lynch.
I love books. I love reading. Which brings me to my dilemma. My book collection has gotten, let's face it, completely out of hand.
Paring down is making me look hard and long at which books I'm going to read again, which ones I'm going to sentimentally keep forever regardless, which ones I've been keeping around simply because they say something about who I am or where I've been, which ones will be hard to replace if I later regret sending them away, which ones I need for reference (cookbooks, art books, and the like), and which ones I'm unlikely to ever touch again.
It is really, really hard to let books go, especially if I think there's any chance I might read it or need it again. I try to remind myself that older books are usually readily available at the library or as e-books, which helps. Although, I have to admit, there are some books that even though I have the e-book, I still can't bring myself to let the physical copies go because I've had them since high school. Yeah, I'm sentimental.
When I love a book, I'll generally want to re-read it every once in a while. Most of the times I've revisited a book, I've found something new in it: picked up some nuance I missed, gotten a better feel for the characters, found something new in myself. Re-reading lets me approach a story with increased maturity and perspective. In a way, re-reading makes the book a different book, because if enough time has gone by, I am a different person reading it.
Also I read so fast, a drug habit might possibly be cheaper. But I digress.
I like authors who write big, fat, sprawling books. Some of my favorites are writers like Stephen King and JK Rowling and George R.R. Martin, who tend to write books so big that you could use them to fend off rabid grizzly bears. Although I've occasionally used "prolific" as a means of damning an author with faint praise (cough*Piers Anthony*cough), I really appreciate it in authors who write books I love.
Take Orson Scott Card. He writes prolifically. In the past, that was, for me, a good thing. These days? It's come out that his politics are so ugly I will never send money his way again. Period. I know some people want to argue in favor for separating the artist from the art, but I don't believe in that. If someone is going to take my money and use it to fight against something I support with all my heart, well, they're not going to get any more of it.
The sad thing is, he was one of those authors where I'd read just about anything he wrote. Ender's Game and all the sequels, the Alvin Maker books, the Homecoming series, and various of the one-offs, like Treason and Pastwatch. I still have most of them. I liked his voice in his writing. I liked, for the most part, the characters he creates and the stories he tells. What I detest are his political and religious views, which are so toxic, I don't think he's all that much different from the Westboro Baptist "Church". You know, those stellar citizens who protest at funerals and so on.
OSC may never stand on a street corner with a sign that says "God Hates Fags", but I don't think his views are any different. And they are more dangerous because he couches them in only slightly less offensive terms.
The question I'm asking myself is, am I ever going to re-read any of his books? Are his views so toxic that they are woven through his writing and I ignored them before? If I re-read his works now, will I find that they were always there? Do I want to continue to give him space on my bookshelves and in my head?
My better half? He votes no.
Another of my all-time favorites? Ursula K. LeGuin. Her writing reveals a worldview that is thoughtful, inclusive, forward-looking, graceful. I'm a better person for having read her books. I have a wider view of the world because of her. She is one of the people who helped me grow up more whole than I would have otherwise. She will always have a place in my home and in my head.
I think that kind of answers my question. With LeGuin, every time I re-read one of her books, it will be with a pleasure akin to greeting an old friend. With Card, it will be with a question mark.
*Just kidding, guys. Write at your own lovely pace. I'll pretend to be patient, honest, I will.
I tend to wind up in a really intimate relationship with the books I read for fun. I'm serious that way (if no other). That makes me really picky about the voice of the author and their characters, because if I get really lucky, I'll want to visit them over and over again. My favorites? Have been read and re-read, over and over again, for years. And if there's someone who gets added to that list, I celebrate the hell out of that because it's rare. It involves trust and fun and thinking and respect and pleasure, not to mention days and days of daydreaming and head-canon character building.
I've been lucky this year in that two new authors have been added to my list of writers for whom I plan to read EVERY SINGLE THING THEY EVER PRODUCE. And they're both relatively new authors, too. Write faster, guys, write faster.* If you're curious, they are Andy Weir and Scott Lynch.
I love books. I love reading. Which brings me to my dilemma. My book collection has gotten, let's face it, completely out of hand.
Paring down is making me look hard and long at which books I'm going to read again, which ones I'm going to sentimentally keep forever regardless, which ones I've been keeping around simply because they say something about who I am or where I've been, which ones will be hard to replace if I later regret sending them away, which ones I need for reference (cookbooks, art books, and the like), and which ones I'm unlikely to ever touch again.
It is really, really hard to let books go, especially if I think there's any chance I might read it or need it again. I try to remind myself that older books are usually readily available at the library or as e-books, which helps. Although, I have to admit, there are some books that even though I have the e-book, I still can't bring myself to let the physical copies go because I've had them since high school. Yeah, I'm sentimental.
When I love a book, I'll generally want to re-read it every once in a while. Most of the times I've revisited a book, I've found something new in it: picked up some nuance I missed, gotten a better feel for the characters, found something new in myself. Re-reading lets me approach a story with increased maturity and perspective. In a way, re-reading makes the book a different book, because if enough time has gone by, I am a different person reading it.
Also I read so fast, a drug habit might possibly be cheaper. But I digress.
I like authors who write big, fat, sprawling books. Some of my favorites are writers like Stephen King and JK Rowling and George R.R. Martin, who tend to write books so big that you could use them to fend off rabid grizzly bears. Although I've occasionally used "prolific" as a means of damning an author with faint praise (cough*Piers Anthony*cough), I really appreciate it in authors who write books I love.
Take Orson Scott Card. He writes prolifically. In the past, that was, for me, a good thing. These days? It's come out that his politics are so ugly I will never send money his way again. Period. I know some people want to argue in favor for separating the artist from the art, but I don't believe in that. If someone is going to take my money and use it to fight against something I support with all my heart, well, they're not going to get any more of it.
The sad thing is, he was one of those authors where I'd read just about anything he wrote. Ender's Game and all the sequels, the Alvin Maker books, the Homecoming series, and various of the one-offs, like Treason and Pastwatch. I still have most of them. I liked his voice in his writing. I liked, for the most part, the characters he creates and the stories he tells. What I detest are his political and religious views, which are so toxic, I don't think he's all that much different from the Westboro Baptist "Church". You know, those stellar citizens who protest at funerals and so on.
OSC may never stand on a street corner with a sign that says "God Hates Fags", but I don't think his views are any different. And they are more dangerous because he couches them in only slightly less offensive terms.
The question I'm asking myself is, am I ever going to re-read any of his books? Are his views so toxic that they are woven through his writing and I ignored them before? If I re-read his works now, will I find that they were always there? Do I want to continue to give him space on my bookshelves and in my head?
My better half? He votes no.
Another of my all-time favorites? Ursula K. LeGuin. Her writing reveals a worldview that is thoughtful, inclusive, forward-looking, graceful. I'm a better person for having read her books. I have a wider view of the world because of her. She is one of the people who helped me grow up more whole than I would have otherwise. She will always have a place in my home and in my head.
I think that kind of answers my question. With LeGuin, every time I re-read one of her books, it will be with a pleasure akin to greeting an old friend. With Card, it will be with a question mark.
*Just kidding, guys. Write at your own lovely pace. I'll pretend to be patient, honest, I will.