Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Why not visit John Self over in the Asylum

John Self is a frequent commenter on this blog. He reads a lot, and sounds like he has even more unread books that me! But he also writes very good reviews of books and films, which he’s been posting over at Palimpsest forums for several years. (A lot better than you’ll ever find here in AiB!)

So check out his new blog at the Asylum - http://theasylum.wordpress.com/.

Browsing through a couple of the comments already posted on the blog, one answer resonated with me. In a reply to a question asking where he finds the time to read so much, John explains:


"I also discovered, through comparison with others, that I read quite quickly on a page-by-page basis, though I didn’t think I did. There is finally an unattractive element of mania in my reading: often I find myself reading as much for completion as for the pleasure of what’s in front of me. In fact I would rather like to slow it down a little, wallow more, but it’s a struggle against habit."

That feeling of having started a book, and being unable to abandon it, even though it’s dragging is one I often experience. There were maybe only two books last year that I didn’t persevere with, but I reckon the number of abandonments should really be higher.

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