Giving up...on books
Laura Miller muses on the idea of throwing in the towel in the The New York Times Sunday Book Review in an essay entitled, Divorce That Book . Discussing this phenomenon with other writers, Miller paints a picture of a society in general and writers in particular that suffer from a sort of "literary attention-deficit disorder." Michael Chabon, one of my favorite writers, in a move that I've found myself in some ways adopting recently, gives books one or two pages before he decides whether or not to proceed. Prior to reading this I would have thought such a blatant dismissal of a text was something that reflected on my own deficiencies. However, finding out that I'm in good company along with prominent writers helps alleviate the sense that I'm an abject failure when it comes to consuming books.

I have to admit that I am not familiar with the works of any of the other writers who are featured in the article, and it does seem to me that David Gates, who dismisses any book other than those he is reviewing and admits to not finishing any book he starts, makes a rather disparaging remark when he states that he hasn't read any "wonderful fiction" in a long time. Harsh words, I know, and likely something I could freely agree with, due to my own dissatisfaction with the state of literature these days, but Gates, whose work I know just by name, seems like an unlikely candidate to dismiss all writing in general and fiction in particular.

Regardless, I'm feeling a little better nowadays, when I leaf through a book in the enormous stack from the library and feel like there's no way I want to even bother reading some of these monstrosities.