Mea maxima culpa

[shewhomust]

There's a meme that's been going round: sovay introduced me to it, but it's been popping up across my f-list. Ostensibly a confession of reading sins, it provides a framework for talking about books under not-the-usual headings:

Lust, books I want to read for their cover

Not guilty, though possibly only on a technicality. If lust is what causes me to order a copy of a book NOW!, it springs from description or recommendation, here or in book reviews. I like a pretty cover, of course I do (here's the prettiest one I've read lately); the cover might make me curious enough to pick up a book and leaf through it. But lust provoked by the cover alone? No. The nearest I can think of would be the days when I trawled through the library in search of the yellow Gollancz covers...

Pride, challenging books I've finished

I was omnivorous in my teens: I remember reading Crime and Punishment. I've read the whole of Proust (in French, though actually I think that made it easier) over several years in my teens and twenties. More recently, not so much - though I read Alan Moore's Jerusalem during lockdown, even the Lucia Joyce chapter, and that was as tough as anything I've read.

Gluttony, books I've read more than once

That's not gluttony, if anything it's fidelity: are we not to be allowed comfort reads?

Sloth, books on my to-read list the longest

I don't have a to-read list, but I do have heaps of books, purchased and waiting to be read - and some of them have been waiting for a very long time. First example that comes to mind is Moby-Dick.

Greed, books I own multiple editions of

Librarything informs me that I do indeed now own two copies of The Enchanted Castle. I blame my memory for this sort of duplication, and often discard onee. There are two copies of The Lord of the Rings in the house, both the old three volume edition: my own very tattered copy and the one we inherited from durham_rambler's father (less well-read). Neither of those is going anywhere.

Wrath, books I despised

I don't often persevere with reading a book I despise: but it does happen to me to take a violent dislike to a perfectly respectable book. I'm sure I've posted about some of them, but right now the only one I can think of is Rose Macaulay's They Were Defeated. Mostly I love Rose Macaulay, and this is often described as her masterpiece, but no.

Envy, books I want to live in

I wouldn't mind visiting Susanna Clarke's Piranesi, but I wouldn't want to live there. Howard's End, maybe, but I'd have to be one of the affluent characters...

Comments

[sovay]

That's not gluttony, if anything it's fidelity: are we not to be allowed comfort reads?

I like your way of thinking of it.

I'm sure I've posted about some of them, but right now the only one I can think of is Rose Macaulay's They Were Defeated. Mostly I love Rose Macaulay, and this is often described as her masterpiece, but no.

If you haven't posted about that one, I'd love to hear about it. The only Rose Macaulay I have succcessfully connected with was What Not (1918).

[shewhomust]

I like your way of thinking of it.

Thanks!

I don't think I did post about they Were Defeated. Short version: well, it's there in the title. Good / sympathetic people trust people they shouldn't, and suffer for it. I wanted to shout at all concerned.

[sovay]

I don't think I did post about they Were Defeated. Short version: well, it's there in the title. Good / sympathetic people trust people they shouldn't, and suffer for it. I wanted to shout at all concerned.

Condolences! I hate those!

[asakiyume]

I'd be curious to visit Susanna Clarke's Piranesi too, or maybe even just to spend time with the titular character.

[shewhomust]

I would love to wander through those halls, but I'd need some very strong safeguards.

Ah, but at which point of the story would you book your date with the main character?

[asakiyume]

Either very early on in the narrative (i.e., we first see him--not his pre-the House past) or after the end. I think when he's going through all the drama of the book, it would be hard.

(Great question!)

[athenais]

Envy, hmm. I am not sure there are any books I'd want to live in. Probably one of Georgette Heyer's if I had to choose, though only if I get to be rich. She counts for Greed, too, since I own three copies of almost all of her romances.

[shewhomust]

I can imagine you living in a Georgette Heyer story.

I'd be interested to read your take on this meme, if you were so inclined...

[lamentables]

Oh, those yellow covers! They were so important to young me. Having read pretty much every book in the children's section, I was given special dispensation to use the adult library. There was supposed to be some kind of supervision, but it never happened, and I roamed free, reading ALL the things, many of them not at all suitable for a child my age. It was a key experience that I feel should be available to all children, expanding the mind without any rules or gatekeeping. The yellow covers were a constant tnread through it all, a reliable sign of something that would be My Thing.

Usually, if I don't like a book I stop reading, just this week, however, I read a book that I hated. I don't think it was a bad book, it was just one where I thoroughly loathed all the characters, their relationships, and their choices, and felt soiled by spending time with them.

[shewhomust]

Likewise, I gained access to the adult section early; in my case it was because I demanded access to reference books which counted as adult. And once there, obviously, I stayed... The yellow covers were lanterns in the unknown.

What was the recent book that you hated? Name names, please?

[lamentables]

Yes, i also ranged free through the reference section at the library.

Naming names: It was The Stargazers by Harriet Evans, which bills itself 'a captivating, magical love story with a breathtaking twist'. The twist is that it is not captivating, magical, or a love story. I have no idea why I bought it, beyond the fact it must have been cheap, because I collect recommendations from all manner of sources.

[shewhomust]

Thanks for the warning! Though the words "captivating, magical love story" might have been warning enough - that definitely sounds like Not My Thing!

[lamentables]

I like a well-written romance, especially when I'm in need of comfort. I enjoy the fact that romance, as genre, keeps its compact with the reader and delivers a Happy Ever After (or, at worst, Happy For Now) despite taking you to the very edge of trusting that it will happen on this occasion.