Where Has My Attention Span Gone?
So, I've been abandoning a lot of books lately.It's not that I don't have my reasons (The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe: overly tedious social satire; Gain by Richard Powers: fantastic set-up in the first 100 pages, but then no cause and effect, no escalation in tension; Perfume by Patrick Suskind: some bad, bad writing, and seriously, way too much narrative time alone in a cave) but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm losing touch as a reader.
Can a person lose their reading mojo? And if so, can they get it back? Can certain books, by virtue of their brilliance and impact, ruin you for anything else?
In an unprecedented move, I am ENABLING COMMENTS on my blog, so that YOU can share your thoughts on reading mojo.
posted by Pants at 4:54 PM|
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11 Comments:
Well, in my experience it could be a few things:
1. It's the books. Not all books are worth finishing. Just the way it is. Gotta know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em. Maybe you've just hit a bad patch.
2. It's you. Maybe you're just not in the mood for a novel! My advice? Read some graphic novels or a magazine.
3. It's TV. TV's just getting too good, and novels aren't quite living up to it. Take a break from "The Wire" and watch an episode or two of "The Class". That love of reading will come right back to you.
Ah, yes, I had considered the possibility of too much TV (it hurts me to say that, because really, compared to what I used to watch, back when I was smarter and sharper, I'm hardly watching anything!) but I hadn't considered that the TV I was watching might be TOO GOOD!
Perhaps the lethal combination of Six Feet Under, The Shield, Deadwood & The Wire WAS to blame! Back off, people, that's 3 years of TV watching!
I go through reading periods of waxing and waning. For me, I've learned to just go with the flow. There are periods when I can't read anything--not even be able to finish a newspaper article. It might take a few months to get back into it and I have to do it slowly. Newspapers, magazines, essays then back to novels. I'll then read voraciously for a few months and then it will die again. My advice: don't force it, just ride it.
For me, I think it has to do with getting older and more grumpy about wasting my time on crappy books. I always have a dozen or so waiting on the shelf to be read, so why finish the one I'm reading and not enjoying? I think that the more you read, the easier it is to recognize those books that are going to leave you with that "I am NEVER getting that time back" feeling. So really, why give them your time when some newer, sexier book is just as willing to make you happy and do so with less fuss?
Miss m, that waxing and waning is an interesting observation. I've never noticed that about myself, but maybe I've never paid attention. My writing habits certainly follow that pattern.
Matthew - what do you do when nothing on that bookshelf looks good? Or when nothing in the bookstore looks good? Perhaps I should take suggestions for new, sexy books that are willing to make me happy for less fuss?
What book would people nominate as "most likely to get you out of a reading funk"?
Mine would be "Wake Up, Sir" by Jonathan Ames - undeniably delightful.
Part of the problem is that when your nerves are frayed, and your attention span has evaporated, you end up trying harder and harder to find the exact match for your tastes, and you end up like a online sexual fetishist, flipping through page after page, desperately hoping that the next... shoe... will fit perfectly.
The trick then is to impulsively grab something for which you feel no particular affiliation.
Or else just go buy a paperback copy of Cujo or Christine or Misery or something or $1.50. Usually works.
...that would be "for $1.50."
And it does usually work.
I agree with M. You must ride the funk, as annoying and frustrating as that can be, it is the best way to ensure that you do not cast off some otherwise good reads that you might really enjoy if you were in a different mind set.
Of, however, you do not want to do that then I would suggest these reads:
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - a fantastic and absorbing book that spans generations.
Bell Canto by Anne Patchett - a story of how the lives of a group of strangers are turned upside down while being held hostage.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - a story about two comic book artists that begins around WWII and ends 40 to 50 years later.
These are all books that I wish I were reading again for the first time.
And of course if that fails then I always suggest the New Yorker.
Mini P
Note: "Of, however, you do not want to do that then I would suggest these reads:"
Should read:
Of course, however, if you do not want to do that then I would suggest these reads:
Don't let my typos dissuade you from those books - I was never very good with spell check.
MP
Annabel has an excellent piece on reading in the latest issue of Geist (an excerpt from her piece in the anthology Reading Writers Reading - anyone reading avoidant writers read it?) Picking up on Jennica's TV theme: "Some of this petulance I can attribute to a life swamped with books...Fatigue sets in, and at the end of a long day the television can look more inviting than one more mediocre novel." If its any consolation, I don't have TV & sometimes reading blogs online is more inviting than one more mediocre novel. One hates to write that because (a) shouldn't we, of all people, be championing reading Real Books over blogs? & (b) one hopes one has not also written one more mediocre novel!
It's not you, it's them. Annabel compares reading to eating. I think it might also be similar to dating in some ways - you have to learn how to do it, it takes a while to develop your tastes, there is a time in your life that you're wildly indiscrimate in said tastes, the more you refine it, the pickier you get - the main difference being that you can't marry your favourite book & hope it will evolve & grow along with you!
Some of my best reading experiences have been while traveling & picking up books along the way that I don't think I would have discovered otherwise. Small islands with a selection limited to books other people have left behind are good for this - maybe it's time to book yourself an island retreat?! That's likely the most sensible solution.
I don't think there will ever be a point that nothing on my shelf or the local used bookstore looks good. If there ever is though, I'd just grab a copy of Geist/Maisonneuve/subTerr/etc and pick up a nice young hottie from there.
As for getting myself out of reading funks (they happen regardless of how many books are around), I try a genre that I haven't read in a while. Richard Dawkins got me out of a recent funk caused by too much fiction. Conversely, Russell Smith got me out of a non-fiction funk which eventually led to that fiction funk.
Jonathan Ames is definitely a great choice for defunking, too.
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