Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Recently, a friend asked me if I finished reading books even if I didn’t like them. She was in the middle of a book she had looked forward to reading, however, it turned out to be sub–par. But for some reason she didn’t want to give up on it, so she came to me—her friend who pretty much always has a book glued to her face—for advice.
At first, I was taken aback by her question. Why would anyone ever finish reading a book they don’t like? But I soon realized that this was something I used to do as well. I would force myself to read books that didn’t interest me as much as I’d hoped because I thought that if I didn’t finish the book I was either not intelligent enough to understand it, or that I was disrespecting art.
Eventually, I realized that there are millions of books in the world and I am never going to be able to read them all, so why should I waste my precious reading hours on something that doesn’t move me or make me fall in love with it? Books are art and art is meant to be enjoyed, teach you something or making you feel something. You can’t do any of those things with a book you hate.
I think our tendency to want to finish books we don’t like has a lot to do with how we were forced to read books when we were younger because they were “good for us,” but it also says a lot about our need to impress people. Are you reading that Jane Austen novel because you love period dramas and female leads who know what they want or are you reading it because people will think you’re smarter for having read it?
Humans try to put on this front that they are vastly intelligent beings with refined tastes (but also you can’t be too boring either). That’s why we have “guilty pleasures” and ironically like things. It’s radical to love what you love unironically, but the moment you do, life becomes that much brighter. So next time you are reading a book that’s making you doze off, put it down and pick up a book that speaks to you. Life is at its best when we surround ourselves with things and people that make us feel electric. Embrace it.
