Welcome Words, Wicked Words, Wasted Words
This month’s 300-words entry is late: Sue and I were in
Pennsylvania helping take care of our twin grandchildren, Sophie and Hazel,
until earlier this week. It was a delight to hear first-hand their steadily
increasing vocabularies.
Words were much on my mind during that visit, both because
of the girls and the two books I’d taken along to read.
One was specifically about words and the comedian who became
legendary for using bad ones: George Carlin. The book, Carlin’s autobiography, Last
Words, described growing up in New York and how he became a nationally
renowned comedian. The book’s downside was the gratuitous foul language and the
depressing accounts of his drug and alcohol abuse. Still, the examples of his
comic routines highlighted his remarkable facility with words.
The
second book was a novel selected for a mindless read. (I’ll mention neither the
author nor the title to protect the guilty.) It purported to be a crime
thriller. But the real crime was that the book was an appalling waste of words.
The protagonist lacked any credibility: a former homicide detective who had
palatial homes on the East and West coasts. He was also a lawyer and a pilot
who flew his private jet to his English estate. The dialogue was painfully predictable
and the story ended with one significant plotline unresolved. In brief, this
was one of the worst written books I’ve ever read. I kept hoping that it would
get better; it didn’t.
Two lessons. First. I was reminded
that writers should never send readers away disappointed. Give them
something: amusement, hope, entertainment, information, inspiration, whatever.
Second, I should have remembered John Ruskin’s words: “Life being very
short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in
reading valueless books.” Too late.
[300 words]
Well do I know the self-reprimand after wasting my time on a book that held no value for me. I want a book to leave me with the pleasure of satisfaction or to tempt me out of my responsibilities because I struggle to put it down, or to make me really think about an issue or stimulate me to go to Google to research more on the topic .... I feel really cheated when I get to the end of a book and wish I hadn't wasted my time on it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Gordon! Late in my life I have at last had the will to abandon books unworthy of my time or effort. I had previously believed that all/almost all books should be read to the final paragraphs. Now I have more time to find and read books worthy of my interest. I'm by no means a purist but I believe an author must respect the reader by contributing fine ideas, sparkling humour, an intelligent plot, engaging characters - preferably a combination of those!.
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