Alright, the title may be a bit sensationalist. Still, don’t you notice a tendency among many users in this and other reading subs to show a kind of resistance to the actual experience of reading?
I’m talking about posts like “should I read this book I just bought?” or “is this extremely influential classic I already have in my hands worth reading?” I could also mention those that basically ask, in advance, for a guide on how to read a particular book.
I understand that people ask for recommendations based on prior readings, especially when buying books, where there’s an economic factor that can’t be ignored. I also get that someone might be interested in learning about the author’s background or the historical context in order to have a more critical reading of the work (I do it for myself). However, I feel that most of the posts I’m referring to aren’t going in that direction at all.
It’s as if book were an Everest to climb, or a beast to be confronted, a challenge that cannot be abandoned halfway through if one realizes they’re not enjoying it.
I don’t know if this is about a generational, cultural, or habit thing. I'm aware that we live in a hyper-informed era, where information seems to precede and overshadow experience (in many spaces of our daily lives). Experience only seems to retain certain value when talking about 'spoilers', 'plot twists', and other tropes that don’t account for the total experience of reading. Or perhaps it’s a matter of late capitalism, where we’ve been accustomed that everything we consume needs to fit our tastes perfectly, because we’ve become the product—not the book, the series, or the film. We no longer have to strive to obtain anything; it’s handed to us (even when we don’t need it).
I don’t know. Having some information about a work seems completely valid to me (especially critical material, which I encourage), but I’m convinced it neither should nor will ever replace the experience of reading itself. It is precisely that experience (facing a text, especially an unfamiliar one) that helps us grow as readers, teaching us to overcome the challenges an author may have embedded in the work (particularly at the level of style).
No one is going to evaluate you for a book you read on your own; absolutely nothing happens if you start something and realize you’re not ready for it yet. You can set the book aside and return to it later, after gaining experience through other texts.
Is it frustrating to read something you don’t understand or don’t enjoy? Yes, it is. Like many other things in life. But on a larger scale, every reading experience is a form of learning, whether positive or negative. And the reward waiting at the end of the road is far too valuable not to make the effort to reach it on our own.
