A book a day...

... Is utterly chaotic! Right now I am reading the final fifty or so pages of Toni Morrison's Tar Baby after having struggled to have read it in the vicinity of three or so weeks due to me not being able to focus too much. 

It is quite a thick read at the beginning. Though I appreciate her work, I think Morrison should not jump into complex metaphors too early on in her novel, because it throws busy people like myself way out further into the thinking sphere than normal. This is the type of novel that I need to be with for just over a month so that I can consume every word of it without struggling. And just like drawing, when I am forced to read I am heavily turned off. Art making and meaning making are quite alike in that sense. 

I remember when I was around thirteen, my best friend at the time who later in my life turned around in the duration of a three-way call, the third person being me, which she did not expect nor did she expect a call to more than another person, and decided to name me the derogatory term used to describe a female dog, but that is another story for another essay. Anyway, this certain friend at the time had read her Harry Potter books the day she had bought them and finished them then. I could not understand how she did it and I do not understand how she conjured up meanings from them but having not yet read from this series I do not think I myself would understand lest I begin. I will, though, and I am certain that it will take me longer than one day to read each book despite the avid reader that I am. 

I despise skim reading unless one is reading an excerpt or an academic essay in which case they need to hunt down key terms and worry not about the rest. However, I do not understand how people skim read novels unless they are critics - because critics never seem to have a decent grasp on any storyline - or editors. Editors need to read a whole lot more than my friend who got through a novel a day, and in that case skim reading is entirely acceptable. Even reading Tar Baby rapidly now, I cannot imagine skim reading because if I did then I would miss out on key ideas. Perhaps it is because I am obliged to look further into this novel because of my Fiction class that I feel this way. 

Nevertheless, like a good wine, a book is meant to be savoured. Every page is like a sip, and with each sip comes a desired effect. I cringe when I think of readers treating the text otherwise. Not that I have or ever will inquire about it, but I am assuming that due to her skim reading of the Harry Potter series, that once friend of mine does not remember any aspect of textual evidence. I bet she remembers the films more. I am not though demeaning the value in any form of reading, though. If one wishes to read they may simply read without my consent for I have no say in the manner, though I appreciate those who read to savour rather than those who read to crave another flavour faster. 

By all means, if binge reading is what Wonder Woman is to Super Man then please, do not refrain from doing so. All I am saying is that each novel has a meaning and I am for the retaining of that meaning for the sake of the writer.