‘So many books, so little time’; these may well be the words etched on my gravestone. My ‘books to read’ list is infinite, growing all the time no matter how many books I read. I’m in a hurry to read as many of the books on this list as I can before I have need of said gravestone and so I read quickly, I never re-read books, I always have at least three books on the go at a time because I’m so impatient (of course, I don’t get through them any quicker this way) and in my pre-baby life I carried a book with me everywhere I went (these days I carry nappies, oh, and my baby).
Usually when I start reading a book my mind is already straying to thoughts of the next book. But occasionally a wonderful thing happens and I find myself with a book that I enjoy so much that I don’t want it to end. And I slow down. I take the time to simply enjoy the story, the prose, the characters, and, for the brief time that I am immersed in its pages, it is the only book that exists.
The novel I’m currently reading, Atonement by Ian McEwan, is one of these books. For once I’m not in a rush to get to the final page. For me, other novels that belong in this elite category, are The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake, Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa and On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
Whilst I enjoy most books that I read I am always in anticipation of my next slow-reading experience.
Which book(s) have you enjoyed so much you wished they would never end?
That’s a very impressive reading list, no lightweights there. It’s difficult to associate the notion of “slow” reading with this rush-rush world. That’s why I remain baffled why short stories continue to languish–it should be the perfect format for those people who don’t have the time for fat, complex tomes. Theme anthologies, “Best of…” collections–do we need a new Raymond Carver to pull the short story out of its present doldrums?
Thanks for the post…
It’s so true — there are too many books, and never enough time to read them all. I, too, usually have several books going at once, but that’s more because I’m not always in the mood for the same thing. I was surprised to see Gormenghast on your list, only because I almost never run into anyone else who has read it. I loved it, too, relishing the rich language as much as the complex tale. I think the only books I’ve ever read a second time were the Chronicles of Narnia. Otherwise, I’m with you — don’t have time to read everything the first time, so little warrants a second read.