.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Monday, June 26, 2006

Theory #28 : Readerly Theories: the myth of the "good reader"

This must be a holdover from my childhood, and the more I read, and the more I listen to authors, the less I believe it, but it still pops up from time to time.

  • The "good reader" catches all the little plot and character clues the author put in the book, and ignores all the things that are just there for effect.

  • The "good reader" reads the descriptions carefully and builds a picture of the setting and the characters in her mind.

  • The "good reader" remembers the date in the chapter heading and doesn't have to flip pages to figure out how much time has elapsed between chapters.

  • The "good reader" doesn't have any trouble whatsoever distinguishing between Mike, Mark, and Mack regardless of how thoroughly they're each described.

  • Above all, the "good reader" reads the book the author intended to write.
I do generally try to be a "good reader"--not because of some strange concept of virtue, but because it increases my reading enjoyment. If I catch the little details, I get that nice rush I'd miss if I'd overlooked them. Being able to picture the setting and remember things like the dates and the differences between characters keeps me in the story. And most definitely, reading the book the author intended to write (to the best of my knowledge, that is) is more satisfying than trying to read, for example, a serious mystery when the author has written a comical one, or trying to read a romance when the author's written a fairy tale with romantic elements (9th book on the list).

Where the "good reader" concept causes problems is when I feel that the author's testing me to see if I'm a good enough reader. When there's a lot of backstory up front that I have no foundation for, or even those casts of characters some authors put at the front of their books, I feel like I should be taking notes for the eventual quiz. Or if an action scene is confusing, or all the names are similar, it feels like a test to see if I'm paying close enough attention. And those detailed scenery descriptions? I'm expecting to be graded on my land nav skills in the story world.

No, I don't consciously or seriously think authors are testing me. But my anxious-to-please inner child does, and she gets defensive, which makes my conscious self annoyed. Since I figured out the "good reader" theory, though, I can attribute those things to the author's inattention, lack of skill, or simple mistake, which is a lot easier to forgive than the alternative.

...more

Categories: ,

Labels: ,


Comments:
I must be an arrogant reader because I'd never even thought of these things as being problems.

I have almost no visual imagination, so I can't picture anything. That makes descriptive passages a bit boring for me unless they have some emotional content too, or unless I'm analysing them for clues about character.

I flip backwards and forwards to work out how old the characters are or to remind myself of names. And I think that's fun. But then, I read the ends of books sometimes before I settle down to read, and sometimes part-way through if the action is getting too worrying and I want to make sure there's a HEA. I check even though I'm reading romance and a HEA is guaranteed.

And then I spend time wondering about the author, and how their character/experiences have shaped the book. I'm so busy thinking about what the author's let slip about her own views/outlook on life that I'm not thinking about what she might think of my responses as a reader. Maybe that's because it's only relatively recently (i.e. compared to years in education) that I've been reading works by authors who are still alive.
 
never thought being a good reading demanded so much :) but in fact i fit the bill. maybe that is why it takes me a decade to finish a book, mainly because i do not read and jump 5 lines at a time. I read, digest, ruminate, chew, chew some more. I love the details, i stop and think and try to picture it in my head. Think about the plot in bed before i go to sleep. Sometimes i wish it could be transcribed to film and i try to figure out who would play who. I did that with the Da Vinci code and i was extremely dissapointed....Tom Hanks for the role - NEVER!!!!
Food for thought there, Darla! Thanks.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?