If someone has difficulty with finishing a novel, or any written work for that matter, could be an epic poem, plays of Shakespeare, etc, then here are eight helpful hints.
1. Try listening to the same on Audible. The voice actor may carry what our attention span cannot. In my experience a good voice actor adds an additional level on top of the work which can help our enjoyment nd understanding of the piece. Conversely a poor voice actor can do the opposite, so do check the reviews which are broken out into story and performance, and pay attention to what peers say about the performance. Also there is the opportunity to listen to a sample before purchasing any Audible title.
2. Take the book on holiday with you or leave it in a place (typically your bathroom) where you will be reminded on a regular (hopefully) basis to dip into it.
3. On that note, if a book is not lending itself to the binge read, see if instead it lends itself to the smaller chunks on a regular basis mode, in which case it is a typical bathroom classic.
4. On line look for groups around that author and compare notes, making it a social read can be an encouragement to finish.
5. There are also physical book clubs that one can find, join or start locally to read socially. Failing that, there’s Graham Norton’s Book Club podcast on Audible, now in its sixth series, with previous series available for download, so you can look through and see if the given book has already been discussed by the team.
6. One can sometimes find at second hand bookstores copies of the book that have been annotated by an earlier reader. This can also add a “social element” albeit one way. one can also consider making one’s own annotations on the text. Pencil ones are best practice. They actually add to the worth of the used book if well done. I am enjoying re-reading War and Peace in Russian and noting my own earlier annotations from when I was young and just learning the language. Nice memories emerge. And that one took a year to read back then and the last section is famously Tolstoy oing off on his own hobby-horse theories, but still I believe one should plod on. This time, I am re-reading with my wife and we are using Audible, which has a great reading in Russian and an even better one by Thandiwe Newton in English.
7. It is also helpful to watch derivatives from books such as “the film” but one should add a note of caution. The joy of one’s own reading is to imagine the character. Even when using Audible we still visualise the character. Once we have seen a film we are led in our visualisation. It’s not hard in the case of some series of books to notice how even the author in later works is influenced by the filmed versions of her (Diane, J.K., etc, yes sorry ladies but it does show, but I am sure Tolstoy would have had the same problem) earlier instalments.
8. Going from the sometimes ridiculous to the occasionally sublime, one can also read the entries in encyclopedias of literature and learned works on the author or even accompanying volumes to the work. In the case of Shakespeare I greatly prefer the New Cambridge series with its focus on performance history. One can look through back-issues of the Spectator to find old book reviews also.
I hope that these hints will help people attempt and finish more challenging literature. Not finishing a book is like not finishing a meal, ie. a bit of an insult to the chef. Sometimes one would like to hurl such an insult at a chef or an author, but I hope that is an exception rather than the general rule in our approach to any art form, food, literature or other.
For those who have read this article of mine to the end, I gratefully accept the mute compliment, although you are also welcome to make a non-mute compliment or insult for that matter in the comments. I mod for spammers and scammers, not for slammers.
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