Discussion threads are a space where we chat, as a community, about a particular kind of ‘Should’, for instance, ‘I should be more productive’ (whatever productive means…) or ‘I should enjoy my alone time more…’. While these threads are generally a paid subscriber-only perk (you can upgrade your membership here, if you’re currently on the free list), I open up the occasional thread so you can get a taste of whether it’s for you.
I’m breaking up with this book.
I’m currently a member of two book clubs: one back in London, where I’m due to return in late May, and one here in Lisbon. As a ‘quality of life’ measure, being part of a book club – let alone two – ranks pretty high. A pretext for a monthly hang-out with like-minded literary types, discussing a work of art, with wine, cheese and whatever bougie accompaniments you’ve deemed necessary for this gathering… what’s not to like? Turns out, there is one thing: and it’s the book. Namely, this month’s choice: The Master & Margaritaby Mikhail Bulgakov.
I wanted, very much, to like this book, the all-time favourite of a school friend who had the sort of highbrow cultural tastes, aged 17, that made me want to surreptitiously scribble myself a ‘further reading’ list on a napkin every time we had dinner. Yet, 100 pages in to this twentieth-century masterpiece set in the Soviet Union, starring the Devil and a talking cat, I realised: I hate it. In fact, I’m breaking up with it.
I don’t want to write a petty, scathing takedown, like the one on Twitter today which, in granular detail, picks apart the first pages of Coco Mellors’ Cleopatra & Frankenstein (a book I adore, and funnily enough the pick for my forthcoming London book club meet-up). Hating The Master & Margarita is my subjective experience. Perhaps it’s the wrong time in my life; perhaps I dislike the magic realism genre (although I loved the subtler elements in Lessons in Chemistry and Love in the Time of Cholera); perhaps my brain imploded when I realised there are multiple characters named ‘Ivan’ in the first act (the former with four different titles: Ivan Nikolayevich Ponyrov/Bezdomny/Homeless/Ivanushka). Either way, my amateur critique barely constitutes good pub chat.
What I do want to express is this: life is too short to read a book you’re not enjoying. That’s a sentiment I first gleaned in an essay Daisy Buchanan wrote for
‘s The Hyphen last year, but it’s been reinforced by considering those hours I’ll never get back of trudging through The Master & Margarita. More optimistically, by the hours I’ve gained from proverbially tossing it out the window (I would make this literal, but it’s on my Kindle). Books can be magical; reading one of the most pleasurable experiences going. Yet while some pleasures (like pizza) are basically alright in any incarnation, enduring a book you hate is the exact opposite experience to falling in love with another.
‘Believe me when I say that I believe books make the world a better place and that reading makes us better at living in it. However, I also believe, passionately, in giving up.’
Last year, I wrote about the big fat ‘Should’ around reading (i.e. the generalised feeling of ‘I should read more’ in an era where television is almost inconveniently good). But what about the ‘Should’ around reading a particular book that everyone likes – even though you hate it? I’d love to hear your thoughts…
My questions for you (feel free to pick n’ choose what you’d like to answer):
What’s one book you hated that everyone around you seemed to love?
Do you find it hard to ditch a book once you’ve started reading it, and why?
Is there a book you hated when you first read it, that you later came to enjoy?
Finally – what’s a book you love (and the standard you measure others against?)
I force myself to give up books I'm not enjoying. I want to complete them, I think it's because I feel I won't have wasted the time spent. But I'm just wasting more time if I go on! I tell myself the time's better spent on another book which I might love, which is true. My trick - find online a plot summary of the book you're not enjoying and read it. Then you loose the urge to stick with it.
It's funny how tastes differ BTW. I love the Master and Margarita (though it's a while since I last read it) Adventurous and poking fun at repressive societies. But I've found that friends and other people I get on with well often have hugely different tastes in books and films etc.
Hello Nick! Oh gosh that’s exactly it , isn’t it? The sunk cost fallacy… that’s a good way of telling if you want to hang on, with the plot summary trick (although do you mind the spoilers? I don’t think I would… after all, we have enough plot driven TV shows!).
Hmm, you know I really wish I loved The Master & Margarita, and as I wrote perhaps another time in my life… I also had my book club conversation about it after writing this piece, and loved the group insights. It turns out there’s a school of thought that it was partly written by the author’s wife (debatable how much!) which is why the style can vary in parts.
That’s an interesting point by the way - I still can’t quite get over that one of my closest friends hates Peep Show (but then loves Succession… go figure!). Related thought: I wonder if maybe navigating and listening to those differing cultural opinions is a ‘soft’ way of empathising with more emotionally loaded differences (eg political views).
I force myself to give up books I'm not enjoying. I want to complete them, I think it's because I feel I won't have wasted the time spent. But I'm just wasting more time if I go on! I tell myself the time's better spent on another book which I might love, which is true. My trick - find online a plot summary of the book you're not enjoying and read it. Then you loose the urge to stick with it.
It's funny how tastes differ BTW. I love the Master and Margarita (though it's a while since I last read it) Adventurous and poking fun at repressive societies. But I've found that friends and other people I get on with well often have hugely different tastes in books and films etc.
Hello Nick! Oh gosh that’s exactly it , isn’t it? The sunk cost fallacy… that’s a good way of telling if you want to hang on, with the plot summary trick (although do you mind the spoilers? I don’t think I would… after all, we have enough plot driven TV shows!).
Hmm, you know I really wish I loved The Master & Margarita, and as I wrote perhaps another time in my life… I also had my book club conversation about it after writing this piece, and loved the group insights. It turns out there’s a school of thought that it was partly written by the author’s wife (debatable how much!) which is why the style can vary in parts.
That’s an interesting point by the way - I still can’t quite get over that one of my closest friends hates Peep Show (but then loves Succession… go figure!). Related thought: I wonder if maybe navigating and listening to those differing cultural opinions is a ‘soft’ way of empathising with more emotionally loaded differences (eg political views).