Today’s post comes to us from Christina Ledbetter. She talks about her personal rules for reading, and I can relate to her rules. Every book I begin, I have to finish, even if I’m not really enjoying it. I think a part of it has to do with hope. A hope that there will be some kind of redemption or saving grace. And then there’s the curiosity factor. As an inherently curious being, and no matter how hard of a time I’m having getting through a work, I need to know how it ends. Not knowing is not an option. I can also commiserate on the Russian literature topic. Despite Crime and Punishment being one of my all time favorite novels, I’m trying to get through The Brothers Karamazov. I just keep telling myself that it took me a good third of the book to get into Crime and Punishment and the return was way better than expected. See, there’s that hope I mentioned! And now, Christina’s thoughts.

Anna Karenina and Reading Rules

I’m trying to finish Anna Karenina. If I give up now, at 60% to go, I’ll have thrown away dozens of hours of my life that I spent slogging through the first 40%. I’ve got a long list of other books I’m eager to start, but I won’t let myself pick them up until I trudge through this monstrosity. I realize I’m in no place to critique a classic (insert audience response here: “thank you, Ms. Professional Internet Blogger”), but geez this book is dragging. I’m fully aware that this is due to reader error, and that my attention span is on the short side since the last book I finished was a compilation of The New Yorker articles. Either way, it’s making my “finish one book before starting another” rule quite tricky to stick to.

I made an exception to my rule last week while I was on vacation. While away from my usual stomping grounds, I feel no need to appear well educated or thoughtful, and hastily threw ole Anna Karenina to the wayside while I delved into a crime novel. But now that I’m home, I’m finding any excuse at all not to touch my Kindle, where Anna’s love story and Levin’s farm woes are waiting for me. “Oh look, Glamour Magazine came in the mail today – better read that while it’s hot. Guess Tolstoy will have to wait!”

I’m not the only one with book rules. One of my girlfriends has a “thinky book, chic lit book” rotation going that works well for her. My husband’s book rule involves reading only books that I’ve read and loved. I’m his weeding-out-the-junk technique.

Do you have any odd, self-imposed reading rules of your own? Let’s hear them. And when you’re finished with that, publish your own book with Kbuuk and let the rest of us impose our own rules on your masterpiece. While you do that, I’ve got a Russian classic to finish.