Sometimes I Just Don't Want to Read It

Sometimes I read a review of a book and I feel “I SHOULD read that.” It is significant, and/or it is by a great writer, and/or everyone will be talking about it. But it just doesn’t sound like a book I would like. Maybe the subject matter doesn’t interest me, or the book is too “experimental” for my taste, or it sounds like it will be extremely painful to read. Usually I try to read more reviews of the book, to learn more about it, in case the first reviewer just emphasized an aspect I tend not to like, or framed the book in a way that didn’t appeal to me. Sometimes I will flip through the book at the library or at a bookstore, to get a better sense of it. Sometimes these actions make a difference and I DO decide to read the book. More often, I don’t. I may feel a slight sense of pressure (guilt is too strong a word) about not reading it, and/or I may feel that I am being lazy or narrow or picky by avoiding a well-reviewed and well-regarded book that happens not to immediately appeal to me. But the older I get, the easier it is to trust my sense of whether a book is one I will like or not. After all, I -- like all readers -- have only so much time to read, and so I have to choose what I read with some awareness of that limitation.