Courtesy of Fox

I know there are bunch of book readers out there who think that television is the root of all evil and the thing that is damning our entire civilization. I’m not one of those people. I enjoy television.

I really enjoy it when I can take a character on television and see his or here roots in literature. Dr. Gregory House from Fox’s “House” is one such character. I believe that he was based on one of the most well known literary detectives of all time — Sherlock Holmes.

Here are some reasons why I think this.

• They are both socially awkward. Both Gregory House and Sherlock Holmes disregard social norms when dealing with others. Dr. House does so in a much more intentional way, while Sherlock Holmes just really doesn’t care about social norms. For both of them, the standard things that people do to get along are boring and cumbersome.
• They are both addicted to drugs. Gregory House is addicted to pain killers to keep his mind from noticing the pain in his leg. Sherlock Holmes was addicted to cocaine in order to activate his mind when nothing interesting was challenging him.
• They both have a friend who helps them in the world. For Sherlock Holmes, of course, this was Dr. Watson. For Gregory House, this is the somewhat similarly named Dr. Wilson. Both of these people help the main character deal with society. Dr. Watson is much more hands on — he’s generally the guy who brings the gun or gets into the fight with the killer when it’s necessary. Dr. Wilson does things in a more subtle way, either bringing Dr. House back to reality or picking up after the mess that he leaves. Both Dr. Wilson and Dr. Watson were also roommates of the main characters at some time during the stories, and both help them interact with “normal” people.
• They both live for the challenge. Both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. House come alive when confronted with a challenging mystery. Dr. House, for all his disregard of people, loves the challenge of figuring out what’s wrong with them. He only cares about those cases, and gets bored with the others. Sherlock Holmes was much the same way. He was only excited about life when the “chase was afoot” and he was working on a challenging case. When Watson tried to keep him from going back to cocaine, it was by making sure he had a challenging mystery to solve. When he didn’t, he would go into a slump.

I’m not saying Dr. House is going to start smoking a pipe or wearing a dearhunter cap anytime soon, just that the similarities are there. What other characters in television do you see based on characters from literature? Let us know in the comments.

I’m now on chapter fifty-two of Moby Dick, and the section I just finished violates the “Show, don’t tell” rule throughout. I’m guessing that when people try and read this book, it’s this section that makes them quit.

What started as a good adventure story has taken a little pause in order to fill in the reader on all kinds of factual things about whaling. While I understand the potential importance of this, entire chapters have read more like a text book than a work of fiction. Chapter thirty-two for example is a complete description of all the different varieties of whale and how one goes about classifying the different types. Not the kind of thing that keeps you riveted to the book.

It’s also interesting to note that during this very chapter, the author mentions “God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught — nay, but the draught of a draught.” There are quite a few places during this section that feel like they were added after the story was created, and just thrown in willy-nilly, without much thought as to how it might affect the pacing. The chapters that push the story forward feel like they aren’t aware of these long chapters of exposition.

Other Characters

During this stage, a few characters have been introduced to us, and we’ve been given glimpses of Ahab and his own character. It’s interesting that I made the last note as pre-ahab, because the introduction of Ahab himself was done with quite a bit of buildup and suspense. He lived down in his cabin until the ship was out to sea, and when he finally really came alive and talked to the crew, it was to get them to commit their souls to hunting down the white whale.

We’ve also had small glimpses into the officers of the ship and the other harpooners (other than Queequeg). We haven’t learned much about their characters yet, other than Starbuck looks to be the most level headed of the group, and the one who will most likely challenge Ahab directly.

I hope that the next section of the book builds more on these characters and moves away from the textbook style of the last section. Then maybe I’ll get the next posting about this one up a bit quicker (it’s been a challenge to force myself through this last section).

New Questions

A couple new questions. With the textbook chapters, only so much of the story has progressed, so I don’t have too many new ones.

• How will the oath that the sailors took play into the story? How much of the influence of putting ones soul on the line will impact people’s actions?
• Ahab is intent on the White Whale, but will we get to see the crew in action taking on other whales as well? We’ve seen the start of one so far, but they got turned back by weather. I’m still curious about what the crew does when it actually catches a whale.
• The introduction of the stowaways that man Ahab’s boat was interesting and somewhat unexpected. How will these new characters influence the story and the crew? They were not part of the crew’s oath to Ahab, will that play into things?

First off, I have to say I’m enjoying the story quite a bit. The narrator has a unique way of putting his own flavor on everything, but seems to be a level-headed guy. Queequeg is an incredibly entertaining and curious character, and the initial meeting between Queequeg and Ishmael had me laughing to myself.

Secondly, there’s quite a bit of build-up in this first section. Almost too much, in my opinion. There are portents and prophecies and allusions to the dark, dangerous trip our narrator is about the embark on. It’s good, that it sets the mood, but I’m starting to think it’s a bit much. At some of the points, I found myself saying, “Okay, we get it, these guys are probably not making the best decision. Enough, let’s get on with it.”

There was also an interesting line in chapter 11 that keeps coming back to me as the book progresses. It’s when Ishmael is laying in bed, and he’s commenting on how the only way to really enjoy your body is being warm is when there’s a bit of it that is cold. The part that stands out is this:

… for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.

This leads me to think that the book itself will present us with quite a few points of contrast. We already have one going between the educated and Presbyterian Ishmael and the uneducated “savage” heathen that is Queequeg. I’m curious to see if we might see more contrasts such as this present themselves throughout the work.

Overall, though, a pretty encouraging start to the book.

Questions/Comments

• So far the narrator has made some decisions. The most important one being the boat that he and Queequeg got on. However, he also got pushed into making a decision by Queequeg and his idol. Will he continue to be a factor in the direction of the book or more of an observer?
• It looks like Ahab has already had his run-in with the whale before we met him. It’s been mentioned that he’s “sick”, is this sickness his need for vengeance or something else?
• I’m curious to see what the first meeting of Ahab and Queequeg is like. We know something of the character of Queequeg, will Ahab’s reaction to him tell us something about Ahab’s character?

It’s one of those strange books that everyone just assumes you’ve read, so it seems that it very rarely gets added to any reading lists any more. Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t know something about the book. I know how it starts (”Call me Ishmael.”). I know the basic story line, and that a couple of the themes in the book revolve around obsession and revenge. I believe I’ve even referenced in it in some of my papers in college. I’ve just never actually read it.

Well, that’s about to change. With a much appreciated gift card I received for Christmas, I’ve now purchased a copy of Moby Dick and plan on taking it on as my next “To be read” book.

I thought I’d do something a bit different for this one, since I do know something about the book, and since it’s one that is more of the “literary” persuasion. I thought before I started reading it, I would come up with some questions to answer during my read of the book.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to put it out there for anyone else who hasn’t read this book. As I go along, I’ll note my observations and thoughts, and if you’re reading along at the same time I would encourage you to do the same. The depth of books like this often are only understood when the book is discussed, so I’d like to take this post as the start of a kind of virtual book club. There won’t be any reading assignments or schedules — nothing that concrete — but let’s see what we find out as we go.

Here are some initial questions that I have going into the book:

• Who is Ishmael? The start of the book is with his name, so is he important to the story, or is he just the narrator and sitting on the sidelines?
• Are there early indications of obsession on the part of Captain Ahab? Is he already obsessed with the white whale a the beginning of the work, or does that develop during the story?
• What factors make the book a classic? It seems like kind of a niche story — why has it stood the test of time?
• How much of the book requires knowledge of whaling? How much is given to us? It was written in 1851, so life was different, but not everyone was knowledgeable about boats and whaling, so how much are we spoon fed on that?
• I know of Ishmael, Captain Ahab and the White Whale. A book this size and depth can’t contain only three characters, so what other characters play an important role in the book, and which ones do we find ourselves rooting for or against?

Well, that’s my first list of questions. Please, if you would like to play along at home, leave a comment. It’s all an experiment, so let’s see what we can figure out.

Photo courtesy of Faeryan

You don’t want to finish reading the book.

The problem is, you’ve already invested time in the book. Hours, days, possibly weeks have already been spent in the effort to get through it.

You say to yourself, “I’ve gotten this far, I should just finish it.” You start thinking of yourself as a quitter for even entertaining the idea that you might give up on the book.

So, when do you give up the ghost and just put the book back on the shelf without reading another page? And what do you with the book once it’s back there? Do you try again a few months later? Does your inability to finish the book haunt you?

My Own Thoughts on the Subject

With this article, I’d really like to solicit your comments and thoughts on the subject of not finishing a book, but here are a couple of my own thoughts.

• Give it your best. There are slow parts in every book. Sometimes if you battle through the slow parts, the reward is finding that the slow parts set up some incredibly dramatic outcomes. Don’t give up too early or you could miss those things.
• Check with your friends. Often, I find myself reading a book because of a friend’s recommendation. If one of those books turns out to be one I’m fighting to finish, I’ll chat with the person who recommended it and see if they had the same problem. Sometimes you’ll find encouragement, such as, “Oh yeah, there’s a slow part there, but stick with it. It gets REALLY good after that.”
• Always keep the book for a second try. There have been two occasions for me where coming back to a book turned out to be the best idea. The first was with Stephen King’s Gunslinger series. The first book of this series is very difficult to get through, but once you do the other books are incredibly entertaining. The second instance was with The Pillars of the Earth. I false started two or three times on this book, barely getting past the first chapter before picking up something else. This book is now one of my favorites of all time.
• If the second (or third) try doesn’t work, let it go. There is a time when it’s just not worth it to keep going with a book. There’s also plenty of books out there to read, and your time is precious. Don’t feel guilty about closing the book and walking away. Even your favorite authors might have written the book you can’t get through. I’ve tried three times now to get through Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver, and I just can’t do it. He’s one of my favorite authors, and I closed the book and walked away.

That’s my two cents, for what it’s worth. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the subject. What book did you finally give up on? Were there books that you came back to later? Leave a comment.

I also have my own idiosyncrasies when it comes to books. All my friends know not to break the bindings of my books (no matter how small and cramped that might make the reading experience). I don’t like people dog-earing books. My blood pressure has shot through the roof when I’ve witnessed a book held open by flipping it over on a table — use a bookmark, people!

Photo Courtesy of jnam

Oddly enough, though, there is one thing that does not make my skin crawl in regards to books, and that’s writing in them.

This seems counter-intuitive, even to me, since all my other book issues revolve around keeping the copy of the book as pristine as possible. That’s why I thought I’d put together an article on the subject, both to get some feedback from folks out there on the subject as well as clarify my own stance.

Why Writing in Books is Good

Here is a brief list of reasons why I think writing in books is a valid behavior, and not one that forces you to rip someone’s pencil out of their hand:

• It’s a form of time travel. When you write in a book, your impressions at the time of reading form a kind of time capsule that you can examine the next time you read the book. Were your initial impressions of a character completely off? Did you not see the huge plot twist coming, or did you have it down at page 15? This exploration of yourself as a person growing can be enlightening.
• It makes the book your own. When you write in a book, you make your own voice part of the book itself. When you loan the book out to others, they even get to share some of your thoughts, even when you’re not there. It’s a whole different experience to read a book with commentary along the edges written by someone you know.
• You engage the book more. When you read a book, pencil in hand, ready to comment on sections of it, you read the book in a different way. You’re a much more active reader, one who doesn’t allow full sections of the narrative to simply drift by unexamined. You question things more. By writing in the book, you create a dialog with the text, rather than just listening to a monologue.
• It makes reviewing a book easier. In this sense, I don’t mean book reviews like those I write for this site, though it helps with that, too. I just mean that if you write in a book, you can flip through it quickly and see that parts that really impacted you. You can re-read the great lines that you underlined. Sometimes you have to think back to why you underlined those lines, but even that is an adventure of its own.

Let me clarify, too, that when I’m talking about writing in books, I’m talking about writing in all kinds of books. Textbooks, non-fiction, fiction — whatever. In fact, if you’re reading a text book for learning, and you’re not writing in it, you’re probably wasting your time.

Certainly there are exceptions to these rules.

• Never, and I repeat never, write in a borrowed book, especially those that you borrow from the library. Only write in those books that you yourself own.
• If you’re buying books to collect, then don’t write in them. Unless you’re the author of the book and you’re putting your autograph on the cover page, then writing in a book probably won’t make it any more valuable.

So, that’s where I stand on writing in books. Please, if you take issue with this, or if you have other opinions — leave a comment. I’d like to hear what you have to say, whether or not you agree with me.

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.  –Oscar Wilde

I have friends who aren’t very avid readers (at least one or two), and sometimes they look at me very strangely when I tell them I’m about to re-read a book for the 10th time. I guess I’ve never thought that it was strange, but given that some people do, I thought I’d list my reasons.

Photo courtesy of FXR

Reasons I re-read:

• It’s like watching a great movie again. People watch movies mutliple times and nobody blinks an eye. The same reasons for watching movies again apply to books. You get to see the great scenes in your mind’s eye again. You get to watch the build-up again. You get to “hear” the great lines that the main character says. All those apply to books as well as movies.

• You can pick up on things you missed. Books, even more than movies, rely on foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism. These techniques may be lost on the first reader, because they don’t know what’s coming up. Reading a book a second or a third time lets you pick up on those things.
• You can figure out what the heck was happening. Certain books are very complex from a plot and character standpoint. Take, for example, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I challenge anyone to read this book one time and be able to tell me about every machination and sly manipulation of events that happens throughout the book. There are too many of them. Re-reading a book allows you to focus on the side stories a bit more than the main story and pick up on some of the more complex aspects.
• You can “listen” to the language. The first time you read a book, you’re reading it for the story. After you’ve read the book for the story, truly great books can be read again just to listen to the language of the writing. Writers know how to create concrete images with their words. Great writers do that, but do it with amazing phrasing and imagery. Great writers can do in a sentence what other writers take pages to do.
• It can refresh your love of reading. Sometimes, after forcing yourself through a slow book, where reading each new page is like climbing a mountain, you forget how fun reading can be. Maybe it’s you, or maybe you were just reading a bad book. Then, you grab a great book that you’ve read before and speed through it, excited to get to the next page, and you realize — yup, that other one was just a bad book.

Do you re-read books? Are there reasons other than these that you do? Tell us in the comments.

Photo courtesy of kennymatic

Sometimes reading to your children can be tough, so I’ve put together a short list of tips that can making reading to children more enjoyable; both for you and the child.

• Make the book a door to another world. Add some drama to the whole experience even before you open the book. Ask your child, “Where do you think this book’s going to take us?” Build up some anticipation even before you look at the first page. Remind the child (and yourself) that a book is more than paper and words on a page. It’s a ticket to other times, other places, even places where magic works and treasures can be found.
• Get them involved. The more you can involve your child in the story that you’re reading the better. Many of the rest of the tips go into detail on this, but anything you can do to get your child involved in the story — do it. The main character’s name is hard to pronounce? Change it to your child’s name. There’s a cat in the story? Change the name of the cat to the same as your pet cat.
• Let the child choose the book. This one can be tough when you’re going on your fifteenth night of “Goodnight Moon,” but letting your child have that control does really involve them in the whole reading process. Children, especially younger children, find great comfort in repetition and familiarity. Knowing what’s coming next in a book gives them a sense of comfort. Give them this when you’re reading to them. Use the other tips in this list to help you make the same book more interesting. Change things up with how you read the book if you’re getting bored. See how fast you can read that “Goodnight Moon” and then see how slow you can read it.
• Use voices. They don’t have to be professional, audiobook quality voices, and you don’t have to do voices for every character. If there’s a an old witch, though, make an old witch voice. If there’s a squeaky mouse or an elephant, make a squeaky voice or a big, exaggerated deep voice. It gets the child more excited about the story, not to mention it makes it more interesting for you as a reader. As a side note, there are some good comic “side effects” of using voices. The first time you scream out some dialog in a good loud voice, and then hit the “, she whispered” phrase at the end of the dialog, you’ll see what I mean.
• Use hand gestures and facial expressions. When things are flying through the air in the story, something should be flying through the air outside of the story. When the dark wizard locks the main character with a steely glare, you should do the same to your child. Looking at your child while you’re reading will really pull them into the story.
• Show emotion. When the characters in the story are running and scared, this should come through in your voice. If the pace of the story is fast, you should be reading fast. If the pace of the story is slow, you should be reading slow. Exaggeration is your friend. Scared? Cover your eyes while you’re reading (this is a neat trick, too). Sad? You should be frowning. Funny? Laugh.
• Ask questions. As you go along, ask your child questions. Questions like “What do you think is going to happen next?” or “Do you think that was a good idea?” help to get your child invested in the story. They also help build story-telling skills into your child as they learn ideas of where the story can go from a certain point. The fun part here, is that you’ll be amazed by the answers. Feel free to take off with the answers, too. Change the story if you need to. There are no story police hiding in your back yard waiting to pounce on you if you change the story. Granted, this gets harder as your child gets better at reading, but take advantage of it while you can.
• Allow for interruptions. Don’t be a story-reading Nazi. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Sitting your child in a hard back chair and telling them not to move or talk while you’re reading won’t be fun for either of you. Let them ask their own questions. Let them comment on parts of the story. Again, you’ll be amazed by what your child comes up with.

Any other tips for reading to children? Please add them in the comments.

Photo courtesy of suchitra prints

Now I’ve never had a real hard time focusing on reading, but I understand the complaint, and here are some tips for being able to listen to music while reading.

• Pick music with simple lyrics (or no lyrics at all). With all the talk of multi-tasking, your brain can really only concentrate on one thing at a time. To avoid distraction, don’t give your brain another set of words to decipher. If your mind is busy trying to figure out what “I need a photo-opportunity/I want a shot at redemption/Don’t want to end up a cartoon/In a cartoon graveyard” really means, then it’s going to find it hard to focus on the book you’re reading.
• Pick music you already know. This goes along with the first tip. If the music you’re listening to is familiar, you won’t be trying to figure out what it’s saying. Plus, you won’t be trying to figure out if you like it or not while you’re also trying to read a book.
• Keep it soft and in the background or loud and in the foreground. When reading, it’s best to either have the music in the background and turned down (simply to break the silence) or have it in your ears and loud (to shut out other noise).
• Watch the beat. When picking music to read to, you’ll want to avoid anything with a real strong beat. Throbbing techno, dance or rap music probably isn’t your best choice. If it makes you want to get up and move, it probably won’t help you sit and read.

Great Music for Reading

Here’s a short list of artists that I listen to while reading:

• Anything classical. Mozart, Vivaldi, Rachmaninoff — you pick. There are no lyrics here, and depending on the particular piece you’re listening to, it can really feed into the pacing and atmosphere of the book. It’s kind of like theme music in a movie.
• Instrumental Jazz. There’s a bunch that fit into this category; Miles Davis, Kenny G and Benny Green come to mind. It gives your living room (or headphones) that coffee house feel, and again stays nicely in the background of your mind.
• Enya. Okay, so Enya does have lyrics, but half the time I can’t understand them at all, so it’s almost like they’re not there.
• Sarah McLachlan. This one is an exception to the lyrics rule, too, but something about her voice takes the lyrics out of play.
• John Mayer. His music has a way of sitting in the background and just keeping you company. It’s not demanding enough to get in the way of good read.

Those are my quick tips. Any other tips for reading with music? Let us know in the comments.