Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Classic reader's block

I have found the perfect place to broach this topic and I'm curious as to what others might say.

I think we all experience what I'll call "reader's block": you are absolutely unable to finish a book. Sometimes, and most annoyingly a classic book. (One you should read; one you should be able to read.)

Well, I encountered such a book. I was assigned The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck for a high school English class, as many of us are. (Part of the problem could be traced back to the fact that I was supposed to read it over the summer.) I started the book, read most of it, and fully grasp it's significance in literature, but I could not finish it. Unfortunately, nor did I want to. I didn't have the patience to read the whole novel, let alone a whole chapter about a turtle crossing the road. I feel a joke coming on here . . . Anyway, I'll keep this short, unlike the book.

Anyone else experience this phenomenon? With what book(s)?