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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Author Insight: Reader's Guilt


Is there one book or series you feel bad about not reading?


"I’ve never read Ulysses. In fact, I’ve not read any book by James Joyce. There, I’ve said it. I was supposed to in college, but I never did. On the other hand, I’ve read every word Toni Morrison has ever published, so it’s not as though I’ve skipped all the 20th century classics." - Bill Konigsberg, author of Openly Straight


"I avoided reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer for over a year because I was not into robots at all, and I feel like Cinderella re-tellings are so incredibly overdone. But once I finally started on it, I really enjoyed it." - Aprilynne Pike, author of Life After Theft and Earthbound.



"Only the books of people that I know. They’re on my bedside table though, and I can’t wait to read them!" - Lex Hrabe , co-author of Quarantine: The Loners


"I want to have read a certain popular YA series. I tried and didn’t like the books. But as a writer, it’s important to read bestsellers in your genre so you can learn from them. Even if they’re not your fav." - Victoria Scott, author of The Collector.



"Yikes, so many. I never even read Harry Potter when my son devoured each one. In fact, I don’t think I’ve read any series..not since Nancy Drew (which I LOVED) when I was in elementary school." -  Nora Raleigh Baskin, author of Surfacing.



"I want to read everything! Every time something goes past that I haven’t read, I regret it, but there aren’t enough hours in the day. I did really want to read Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and have started it a few times, but not persisted: any novel that needs charts at the beginning so you can keep track of all the characters is too much like hard work to me." - Teri Terry, author of Slated




"Probably Lord of the Rings. It’s been such a huge influence on so many writers who I respect, but I could just never get into it." - Jeff Sampson, author of  Ravage


 "I feel badly about not finishing the Harry Potter series. I really did enjoy the first four books. But the later books got longer... and longer... and would have been better if edited down, and I just stopped reading them." - A.B. Westrick, author of Brotherhood



"Err...no? There are some I haven't gotten around to yet, but it's just because I'm too busy and I know I'll get to them as soon as I can." - Molly McAdams, author of Taking Chances




"I'm terrible about the classics. I actively avoided them in college, so there are lots that I've never read. (Jane Austen being the big exception. I love her books!)" - Stacey Kade, author of The Ghost & the Goth and The Rules




"I felt bad about not having read Anna Karenina, but my little brother chided me into completing it. I’d like to read all of Dickens, who is brilliant, but I am stuck on Pickwick Papers." - Liz Coley, author of Pretty Girl-13. 



"Hmm. I don't have a book or series I feel really 'bad' about reading. That would pertain to having not read, say, my best friends' books, but I'm on top of that! And I tend to read the 'big' book series, or at least the first books, to see if they're up my alley. But I would like to get to reading Paolo Bacigalupi's Shipbreakers' series soon because it's such an award-winner and I'm drawn to those kinds of books." - Kristin Halbrook, author of Nobody But Us. 

 
"I didn’t buy the textbook for one of my grad school courses…We only used it for two lectures, which I, um, skipped. I feel pretty awful about that, particularly since it was written by my professor." - Robyn Schneider, author of The Begining of Everything.





Find out Thursday if the remaining authors feel bad about not
 reading a particular book or series. 

2 comments:

  1. Aprilynne Pike, I am with you. But the bad part is that I have YET to read it. I know, I know! It is on my list!

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  2. And another one I am in complete agreement with is Stacy Kade. I have not read any classics, and I feel awful about it. Not Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice... Nada. Terrible!

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