I need to find some way to slow down or extend the reading experience of enjoyable novels. The problem is the more enjoyable the story, the faster I tear through it. I'm only fifty odd pages from the end of Gunshot Road by Adrian Hyland. I need to know what happens, but I don't want to finish the book. The dreaded reader's paradox - how to devour and savour at the same time. Now if the next book in the series was already out, I'd have a (temporary) solution. I suspect the only solution will be to pick up the next book on the TBR pile and hope for the same reading pleasure. That or someone needs to share with me their top tips for altering the space-time physics of reading. Any takers?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Altering the space-time physics of reading
I need to find some way to slow down or extend the reading experience of enjoyable novels. The problem is the more enjoyable the story, the faster I tear through it. I'm only fifty odd pages from the end of Gunshot Road by Adrian Hyland. I need to know what happens, but I don't want to finish the book. The dreaded reader's paradox - how to devour and savour at the same time. Now if the next book in the series was already out, I'd have a (temporary) solution. I suspect the only solution will be to pick up the next book on the TBR pile and hope for the same reading pleasure. That or someone needs to share with me their top tips for altering the space-time physics of reading. Any takers?
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5 comments:
Rob - I know exactly what you mean!! If anyone comes up with a way to alter the space-time continuum like that, I would love to know!
Start the washing machine, brew a mug of coffee, go to the loo, check your email, brew a fresh mug of coffee, sleep on it etc.
No, I don´t have any real solutions, but I feel exactly the same when I can see I have only one or two chapters left. I wonder whether it will be different with an ereader - would we know it was that crucial last chapter, or would we just read on and crash through the ending without realizing it?
That book has that effcet on most people Rob
Can't help you Rob - it doesn't happen often with me but Gunshot Road did that for me as well - and I don't mean to scare you but it actually took me several weeks to get back into 'normal' reading - I kept picking up books and starting them and losing interest - they were all perfectly good books but they weren't Gunshot Road. I need to buy myself another copy (mine disappeared when my American sister in law left town) so I can dip in and out - there are some beautiful passages of writing that I could just read again and again for their poetry
"Gunshot Road" is a unique book.
I couldn't put it down, but then again I wanted to savor every paragraph, sentence and word.
It was like eating an exquisite dessert with a good cup of tea, wanting to savor every bite.
I got a good dose of "post-good-book" slump after finishing "Gunshot Road." Nothing seemed good or interesting, until I got past the slump and back to reading "regular" books.
I hope Adrian Hyland gets some awards for the book, to let more people know about this very well-written book.
I'd say it transcends the mystery genre, but that's implying that mysteries can't be good literature, which is not true. And, it's obvious with this book.
Now how long do we have to wait for the next in the series?
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