When
you're deciding what to read, outside of school, what compels you to pick up a
particular book? And once you've started, what's the worst thing an author can
do? What makes you decide not to finish something?
Dear Carmen Maria Machado: The Books that Slip Through the Cracks
By Gabby Masini
I have devised many strategies in my endless search for new reading materials. Early on I would ask librarians or bookstore employees for recommendations, but they soon ran out of new material, so I had to get creative. I look at the recommending quotes in books made by similar authors and later attempt to find their books in stores. When this is not enough, I often search the aisles of books staying mainly in the sci-fi and fantasy sections reading synopses for hours trying to find the perfect pile of books. When I do not have the time to peruse shelves of books, I search for them online. I read synopses and reviews looking for the best stories that I have not yet had the chance to read.
While I love finding new books and reading them, there are times when not so great books slip through my vetting process. Some books just do not hold my interest because of things such as static characters or a lack of plot; however, there are other books that manage to completely drive me away. One such book was a virtual reality sci-fi that was written in the early nineties (which I know sounds like it could be pretty bad already). I read about thirty pages into it, and I began to get a vibe that it this character was not one I would be able to tolerate because she was so impressed with herself for her religious devotion and looked down on others for being different. So, I decided to flip through the book, and the main character was constantly self-righteous with a holier-than-thou attitude going so far as to pity others for not finding the ‘true path’ like she did. I always have trouble reading books that take too strong of a stand on any issue and make it seem like any other opinion is wrong. This book did the one thing that I cannot stand: it was incredibly preachy. This single book was able to alienate me as a reader unlike any other book that I have read, and I just could not finish it.
Dear Gabby,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a more consistent process for finding books than you have a consistent pattern of what kicks you out of a book.
Do you find preachiness to be an ongoing problem in sf? I wonder about that. It seems a trap our genres are likely to fall into, since there's often an underlying "if things go on this way" cautionary quality to the storytelling. Political systems, value systems, economic systems, personal rights. All sorts of things are regular fodder for speculation and probably fodder for some grandstanding, too. Is it reasonable to assume that sf will preach from time to time? Is that just the price of admission, or a sign of a lazy approach to the narrative?
best,
TT