On being a reader...
Thu, Sep. 23rd, 2004 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterRandom thoughts sparked by various discussions on Amazon.com reviews, on book reviews in general, on the prevalence of writers on my FL, and other such things. (Not sure if I need a disclaimer, but none of this is meant to single out anyone on the FL, er, unless one of you is secretly OSC, nor is it meant to be offensive.)
It's very interesting reading my FL because so many of the people talking about books on it are people who are writing books and short stories and the like. It's a very different perspective from what I'm used to -- I'm very much a reader, and I've never felt the desire to be a writer, despite occasional adolescent dabbling. And I've spent a great deal of life reading without thinking of the author, or, if I do, I had a concept of the author as some sort of all-powerful being who was very far removed from this world. Also, being in Taiwan for eight years sort of limits one's opportunities to go to signings and the like. Going to my first signing (this year, Orson Scott Card) was very strange. I think sometimes I like that distance from the author, particularly in OSC's case, seeing as how I violently disagree with some of his personal views and his interpretation of his books.
The strangest part of it was feeling very protective of his books while reading or hearing his opinions on those books -- I mean, he's the author, he wrote them, obviously they mean something personal to him. But I wanted to figuratively grab the book and hug it to my chest and not let him tamper with my view of the book, or my experiences of reading the book, because it was my book that I had read in sixth grade and it had probably changed my mental landscape rather dramatically. I also come from the school of thought in literature that while authorial intent matters, it is not the be-all-end-all to interpretation. Sometimes I like knowing authorial intent, and I like knowing that such-and-such was intended as a homage to so-and-so, or that the author was reading Dunnett at the time, or that the author was responding to another book. Other times, I don't want to know, because there's another version of the book in my own head, and the intention of the author gets in the way of that. I don't know if my version is the "right" version, or even if there is a right version, but it's my own version, formed by all the books I've read in the past, by my own experiences, by where I was and how I was feeling when I read it.
This feeling is generally more awkward when the author is alive and says or publishes something that contradicts with what I think.
Also, as a reader, I do things detrimental to authors, like borrowing millions of books from the library, frequenting (and currently working in) used bookstores, going to library sales, etc. To be honest, when I do that, I don't think about the author's sales. Mostly I am just concerned with preserving my own paycheck, given the fact that I buy anything between 5-10 books a month. Depending. I have gone horribly over limit this month due to library sale and the anticipation of not having my employee's discount anymore. Plus, my personal goal is to read as many books as possible while spending as little money as possible, and I don't like buying books I haven't read at cover price unless I succumb to the temptation of sequels, or new books by authors I like, or sometimes just really pretty cover art. I buy books used and new, I borrow anything I can get my hands on, I scrounge for free books. I also don't think about good things like supporting my local independent bookstore instead of going to Borders or B&N or Amazon, mostly because I read a lot of genre, and half the time I can't find what I'm looking for in little independent bookstores. I do make a special attempt to get lots of stuff at Borderlands though, because I like them. I probably also contribute an embarrassingly large amount to the bookstore I work at currently.
When I talk about books in my LJ, mostly I'm thinking of other readers when I do it, not of the authors. It's actually very strange thinking about how much I think about books and read books and spend time and money on books, while not really keeping the author in mind the entire time I do it. I think of the author as a sort of brand name actually. It's so odd reading about everyone's struggles to write the next book or story, to sell it, and to realize that I'm the one sitting there reading it, that more often than not, I skim a few paragraphs of someone's hard work and pass judgment on it. I feel I read scholarly non-fiction a little differently because after writing so many papers (and the thesis) during school, I understand more what the author had to go through to compile data, to research, to present ideas clearly. I have a grasp of what had to go into every single sentence. I never really think about fiction in that way because I've never really had to take it apart and tinker with it in my head.
Anyhow, just things that randomly popped in my head these past few months.
It's very interesting reading my FL because so many of the people talking about books on it are people who are writing books and short stories and the like. It's a very different perspective from what I'm used to -- I'm very much a reader, and I've never felt the desire to be a writer, despite occasional adolescent dabbling. And I've spent a great deal of life reading without thinking of the author, or, if I do, I had a concept of the author as some sort of all-powerful being who was very far removed from this world. Also, being in Taiwan for eight years sort of limits one's opportunities to go to signings and the like. Going to my first signing (this year, Orson Scott Card) was very strange. I think sometimes I like that distance from the author, particularly in OSC's case, seeing as how I violently disagree with some of his personal views and his interpretation of his books.
The strangest part of it was feeling very protective of his books while reading or hearing his opinions on those books -- I mean, he's the author, he wrote them, obviously they mean something personal to him. But I wanted to figuratively grab the book and hug it to my chest and not let him tamper with my view of the book, or my experiences of reading the book, because it was my book that I had read in sixth grade and it had probably changed my mental landscape rather dramatically. I also come from the school of thought in literature that while authorial intent matters, it is not the be-all-end-all to interpretation. Sometimes I like knowing authorial intent, and I like knowing that such-and-such was intended as a homage to so-and-so, or that the author was reading Dunnett at the time, or that the author was responding to another book. Other times, I don't want to know, because there's another version of the book in my own head, and the intention of the author gets in the way of that. I don't know if my version is the "right" version, or even if there is a right version, but it's my own version, formed by all the books I've read in the past, by my own experiences, by where I was and how I was feeling when I read it.
This feeling is generally more awkward when the author is alive and says or publishes something that contradicts with what I think.
Also, as a reader, I do things detrimental to authors, like borrowing millions of books from the library, frequenting (and currently working in) used bookstores, going to library sales, etc. To be honest, when I do that, I don't think about the author's sales. Mostly I am just concerned with preserving my own paycheck, given the fact that I buy anything between 5-10 books a month. Depending. I have gone horribly over limit this month due to library sale and the anticipation of not having my employee's discount anymore. Plus, my personal goal is to read as many books as possible while spending as little money as possible, and I don't like buying books I haven't read at cover price unless I succumb to the temptation of sequels, or new books by authors I like, or sometimes just really pretty cover art. I buy books used and new, I borrow anything I can get my hands on, I scrounge for free books. I also don't think about good things like supporting my local independent bookstore instead of going to Borders or B&N or Amazon, mostly because I read a lot of genre, and half the time I can't find what I'm looking for in little independent bookstores. I do make a special attempt to get lots of stuff at Borderlands though, because I like them. I probably also contribute an embarrassingly large amount to the bookstore I work at currently.
When I talk about books in my LJ, mostly I'm thinking of other readers when I do it, not of the authors. It's actually very strange thinking about how much I think about books and read books and spend time and money on books, while not really keeping the author in mind the entire time I do it. I think of the author as a sort of brand name actually. It's so odd reading about everyone's struggles to write the next book or story, to sell it, and to realize that I'm the one sitting there reading it, that more often than not, I skim a few paragraphs of someone's hard work and pass judgment on it. I feel I read scholarly non-fiction a little differently because after writing so many papers (and the thesis) during school, I understand more what the author had to go through to compile data, to research, to present ideas clearly. I have a grasp of what had to go into every single sentence. I never really think about fiction in that way because I've never really had to take it apart and tinker with it in my head.
Anyhow, just things that randomly popped in my head these past few months.
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3 parts
Fri, Sep. 24th, 2004 07:08 am (UTC)In the end, the work can't stand by itself because nothing stands by itself. The reader brings him or herself to everything they see. That automatically changes it. If that is what you want, fine. I think the richest experience requires more than that. I don't just want to have something to project myself into. I want to see what another person wants me to see.
It's sort of like looking at a valley with someone. I see certain things. Someone else sees others. I like it when they show me what they see. I like it when they show me things that I missed. That other person can be the author or another reader.
It really depends on why you read. It doesn't have to be any one reason. Human beings are complicated creatures capable of multi-tasking. What you see doesn't have to be trumped. What the author wanted doesn't have to be trumped. The two images and any others can co-exist creating another image.