From Station V3I saw this cartoon and thought that there are a few books that I would gladly unread. For a start, I've been reading The Court Of The Air and finding it far too gruesome for me. I haven't finished it and I would happily unread the bit of it that I have read.
I wonder what it would be like to unread a book. Would the curiosity that pushed me towards reading it in the first place cause me to read it again and then have to unread it again? Would this be a repeating pattern? Or would I remember that I had unread it and leave well alone? I shall never know.
16 COMMENTS:
Interesting concept though. Unreading it could include a little aversion therapy to prevent re-reading it. At least I've gotten to the point in my life where I do not feel compelled to finish everything I start reading.
Lucky for me, I have a terrible memory. I unread things all the time without meaning to because of it.
Aversion therapy: I should have thought of that, Sarah.
I hadn't thought of that as unreading, freddie. The trouble comes when a book stays in your mind and you really wish it wouldn't.
I unread naturally as well - in a way, that may be a gift, as I absolutely LOVE rereading.
I see what you mean, FHH, but for me that happens more with movies.
What books do you wish you could purge from memory, if you don't mind my asking?
Robin: my Mum says it's a gift too. She can re-read books and not remember how they end. I get that too with some books.
Freddie: thankfully, I don't have any books lurking in my mind at the moment. It's just anything that is about mutilation, or torture, or anything where people or animals are in pain really affects me for a while after reading. I never knowingly read such stuff but you don't always know what's in a book until it's too late.
Ah. Well, the book (The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson) for EE's September's chat may be a little grotesque, as it is at least partially about HH Holmes. I'll give you a heads up if it gets too gory.
Hey FH,
I'm putting up the voice post later tonight, Eastern time, so you guys have it available when you get up in the morning - please pop a note on when you have yours ready, OK?
Whoops - Devil in the White City is for the August chat. Sorry. Can't keep my months straight these days, it seems.
I'm trying to think of a book I'd want to unread. I've read some books I thought were just terrible, but I think they've taught me some important things about how NOT to write. And besides, I'm very attached to mocking them now.
Oops! And I meant to say: thanks for visiting my blog. (Reading all those bad books didn't teach me anything about how not to write a bad comment, apparently.)
Freddie: thanks, I'll appreciate the heads-up!
Robin: I'll try to get the recording done today and pop over and post on your blog.
Mary: nice to see you over here. I've been enjoying your blog but I usually don't have anything useful to comment.
Oh, and there aren't any books I'd want to unread for sheer bad writing - only for causing me to feel terrible after reading them.
I just sent a friend of mine a really bad book - with a specific note that she was not to read it until she was working on her OWN book. She tends to get despondent about her own writing and I'm thinking reading something that bad that nevertheless got published should hopefully inspire her to keep going.
There was a book I read about a sociopathic murderer where it becomes clear at the end that the narrator IS the sociopath and I felt so horrifically dirty (for liking him, for cheering him on), I threw the book away on the spot. I never do that but I just couldn't stand the way the book made me feel. I recognised it as a great talent but I hated it just the same.
What's terrible is that now I'd like to be able to point at the book (or even reread it to see if it really is that powerful - so I guess I have unread it!) and I have no idea what it is called nor the author's name.
So not only have I unread it, but I may well pick it up and read it again without realising as I won't recognise it. How bizarre.
That's some serious unreading going on there!
It must have been a pretty powerful book.
heh, I'm trying to work out a way to find it online - searching on "novel sheriff murderer girlfriend eyes"
I don't think it was that good - else the respect for the book would have stopped me throwing it away? I don't know. I definitely need to find it and re-read it and see.
It's so annoying when you can't get hold of a book that you want. I hope you find it.
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