Monday, March 05, 2007

Book enthusiasm

I was just re-reading some of my book reviews and noticed a few things:
 
1. I use an awful lot of exclamation points. Sorry about that. I guess I just get excited when I read a good book.
 
2. I don't usually review books that I don't like. Why is that, you may wonder? Because if I don't like a book, I don't finish it. There are lots and lots of books out there that I've tried and then rejected. Sometimes I may go back to the book later and enjoy it (I've found that with some books, I have to be in a certain mood to read them). But my philosophy is that with all the thousands of books that are out there waiting to be read, why should I waste my time on one that doesn't grab me?
 
3. It is kind of appalling to me how many of the books that I've reviewed here that I don't remember reading. I guess that's one of the dangers of being a fast reader -- I often don't take in too many of the details. I once came across some detailed notes that I'd taken about a book that I had read six months ago -- but had no recollection of either reading the book, or taking the notes. The ironic thing? The book was The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers by Daniel Schachter. (A very good book, by the way.)

1 comment:

Patty said...

Exactly how would you know it's a very good book if you don't remember it, hmmm??