Tag Archives: what to read

May 24 2011

Top 10 Tuesday: Books I Lie About

Top-Ten-Tuesday(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish. Want to make your own list? Clicking the image will take you to this week’s post. Happy listing!)

Is there a book you tell people you’ve read, even though you actually haven’t? Have you agreed with someone’s positive review of a book, when really you hate the book with a fiery passion? Time to spill the beans! This week’s list is centered around books you’ve lied about.

One thing that I’ve always prided is my inability to lie about my feelings toward a specific book: if I loved it, I rave about it constantly; if I hated, I rant about it constantly. But I have a secret, an enjoyment of books of a certain type that I don’t talk about often, because I think a lot of people consider it taboo: I read books about sex.

I don’t mean romance novels. I mean things like Bonk (Mary Roach), a book that talks about the nitty-gritty of the sex research that goes on in labs across the country and world. I’m obsessed with David Buss and his theories of evolutionary psychology, and in college I took classes like “Human Sexuality,” “Abnormal Psychology,” and “Sexual Deviance.” A short sampling of the “sex books” I own/want to read include:

  • Why Women Have Sex: Sexual Motivation, from Adventure to Revenge (Cindy Meston, David Buss)
  • The Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy is as Necessary as Love and Sex (David Buss)
  • The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating (David Buss)
  • Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (John D’emilio, Estelle B. Freedman)
  • Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences (Laura M. Carpenter)
  • Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality (Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha)
  • The Technology of Orgasm: “Hysteria,” the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction (Rachel P. Maines)
  • Affection: An Erotic Memoir (Krissy Kneen)

I’ve also got almost as many books relating to feminism and sexuality. I think this collection would make my psychology professors happy, but it’s not a genre that I often discuss unless I’m with close friends. I always tell people never to be embarrassed by what they enjoy reading, but I’m kind of afraid I’ll be thought of as some pervert who gets her jollies from reading about others’ sexual experiences.

But to me it’s not about the titillation — if I wanted that, I’d read a romance novel. There’s nothing remotely titillating about trying to figure out why jealousy exists when all it seems to lead to spousal abuse; and while it’s kind of funny to imagine a penis camera, it’s not particularly arousing. But it is fascinating, and so I read it. I just don’t talk about it in mixed company.

What books have you lied about? Is there a genre that you’re embarrassed to love?

Dec 2 2010

I Refuse to Read This.

In a recent “chain letter” that has swept through my Facebook feed, people are given a list of 100 “classic” books and asked to indicate which they’ve read, either in full or bits and pieces.

You may or may not be surprised to learn that I’ve read, from cover to cover, 33 of those 100. And although that’s a relatively large portion of the list, I’m sad to say that there were 12 books of which I’d only read portions.

Some of those 12, such as A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, I haven’t read in full because there’s a million of them. Same goes for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories — there are dozens, and frankly I’m just not that interested.

But what about some of the others? What made me pick up a book and then drop it, unfinished, several days or weeks later? For that matter, what’s a good reason for leaving any book unfinished?

When I stop reading

Several of the books, including Jane Austen’s Emma and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, have been adapted into films. With both of these books, I’ve seen so many adaptations (or seen just one adaptation a zillion times — I’m looking at you, Gwyneth Paltrow!) that reading the book is rather dull. I know the exact plot, and can quote whole sections. I’m so saturated with film that paper and ink won’t fit. I know, shameful.

As for The Chronicles of Narnia, I get it: it’s an allegory. Aslan is Jesus, and Eustace is a rotten little puke who deserves to be turned into a dragon. Yes, it’s well written, and yes it’s popular, but I hate being hit over the head with allegories. It hurts and makes my eyes water.

Some classics are also just off-putting to me. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is well known for being creepy, but have you ever tried to read Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida? It’s revolting, and is probably something I’ll never read.

But almost worse than all of these reasons is the final one: the book is boring. I hate situations like this the most because I generally have high hopes for the book…only to have them dashed by flat characters, unexciting prose, and/or general plot muddiness.

Some hints

Don’t waste your time reading a book you’re not enjoying — especially if you’re only reading it because it’s everyone else is.

I’ve discussed my 50 page rule before, but it could just as easily be the “3 chapter rule” or the “100 page rule.” If you’re not a fan of the book by the time you reach your rule, don’t feel guilty about dropping it.

Also, don’t equate putting a book down with “giving up.” Just because my first attempt at reading Austen’s Persuasion or Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina ended with my setting them aside, doesn’t mean I won’t pick them up in the future and love them.

Life is a series of experiences, each of which affects the way we view the world — including books. So don’t give up on that “boring” book just yet. Set it aside and read something else, and then come back when you’re ready to try again. You might just surprise yourself.

Above all, remember that there are millions of books out there. Read what you love.

What book(s) have you tried to read, but given up on? Has a film adaption ruined a classic for you too? What do you think of allegories?

Nov 3 2010

Leveling the Reading Field: How Dumbed-Down Writing Makes Everyone Lose

An interesting article appeared in my inbox recently. Although the article itself revolves around website accessibility and usability, there were some interesting pieces of information on reading comprehension.

Did you know that:

  • The Wall Street Journal is written at a high school junior reading level?
  • President Obama’s speeches are written at an 8th grade level?
  • Nearly all of today’s top novels are written at a 7th grade level?

The article goes on to discuss how bloggers can measure the readability of their blog(s) — the idea, of course, being that one needs to market content in a way that makes the most sense to the most readers.

Just a minute, now

Although I understand the necessity of making content readable and understandable, I’m curious as to why we are essentially “dumbing down” content (including novels) so that it caters to the lowest common denominator.

What happened to kids, or people of any age, who enjoy a challenge — who enjoy learning? One of the greatest joys of reading is that you learn while doing it.

The point of the education system is supposed to be that students learn how to think, and learn how to learn. And although many school administrators these days praise all the good that public education is doing, independent thought is often cause for alarm.

Why should an intelligent child be forced to read and do things far below his or her level just because most of the other kids in the class are below where they should be?

Holding a child back when they’re ready to move forward is just as much of a punishment as is pushing a child forward when he or she isn’t ready.

Readability tests

There are several ways to measure the readability of a passage of contemporary academic English — and one of the most popular ways is the Flesch Reading Ease test.

By doing just a bit of counting and some basic algebra, it’s possible to give a piece of content (such as a blog post, newspaper article, or novel) a readability score.

  • 0.00 – 30.0 – content is best understood by university graduates
  • 60.0 – 70.0 – content is easily understandable to 13 to 15 year-old students
  • 90.0 – 100.0 – content is easily understandable to an average 11 year-old

To give you an idea of numbers, I’ve calculated that my first blog post has a score of 56.49 on the Reading Ease Test; this entry you’re reading now has a score of 61.92.

Raising the bar

Although this blog is certainly not the most difficult one to read, it’s evident that I’m no slouch when it comes to writing; I write the way I speak, and I don’t waste time trying to make my blog posts more readable to “Everyman.”

Does this mean I lose readers? Possibly. Is it the best practice for a business to operate the way I do? Probably not.

I know that sometimes it’s necessary to adjust writing styles so that less intelligent/educated individuals are able to understand.

But I’m also a big fan of setting the bar higher. Blogs and novels (and even Presidential speeches) should make you think, expose you to well-expressed new ideas — and you should be able to express yourself back.

What do you think about “dumbing down” writing? Is it better to get as many people reading as possible, or to make sure that everyone is reading at ideal different levels?