GYWH.com

Posted: Jun 27, 2011 04:48 am

I did not ever expect to be writing the sentence, “I must read more Jane Austen,” but after my first one (Pride and Prejudice), I must confess to wanting another! And another!

I was never a novel reader, especially not a ‘classic’ novels reader, until the past 10 years or so. I read plenty of science, history, biography and other technical subjects, with relish. I’ve always been good at reading for information and facts, but I never really enjoyed fiction (sci-fi and crime novels aside). I couldn’t get into them, I was bored by them, and I often quit them before the 50th page.

But gradually, in the past ten years or so, I have learned how to read a novel, and am gradually reading many classic novels that I should have read in the past. I’ve become convinced that reading novels is a distinct skill, totally different from reading about test tubes, femurs, granite and ozone. Reading novels is a skill I never practiced at, and was poorer for, until now. Maybe I am more mature; maybe I have developed a skill of which I was quite ignorant; maybe I have overcome a fear of books about humans and their feelings. Whatever the case, bring me more Jane Austen!

See my 2011 Booklist here.