I need to confess, admit, relieve myself of a secret …. I have never read Harry Potter, any of them in fact, there is always something more interesting to do. Normally I would fear that such an admission would end my nascent career as a Children’s Librarian, but I have rights as a reader – I have the right NOT to read.
According to Daniel Pennac, in his wonderful book the Rights of the Reader, I have other rights too, so whilst I am celebrating my newfound rights here are some more of my secrets
- I have the right to skip – I have only ever read the beginning and end of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass
- I have the right not to finish a book – I didn’t finish Joy Cowley’s Snake and Lizard
- I have the right to read again – I have lost count of the number of times I have read I’m not cute by Jonathan Allen as it is soo cute!!
- I have the right to read anything – I have read all the Tiara Club series by Vivian French!
- I have the right to mistake a book for real life – Oh I could so see me as Christina in the Flambards series.
- I have the right to read anywhere – even whilst walking!!
- I have the right to dip in - a quick dip into Where the sidewalk ends by Shel Silverstein always brightens up my day, but I don’t think I have read all of it!
- I have the right to read out loud – The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine just begs me to read it out loud to anyone, anything that will listen. In fact I am sure the sitting room plants are looking glossier and have sprouted a few more leaves since I read it to them!
- The right to be quiet – even whilst reading in a noisy café, I want my own sphere of quiet and peace to luxuriate in reading or not!
So be embarrassed no more about not reading a book, celebrate your favourite reading spot, and read that passage out loud to anyone who is passing with gusto and passion, as we readers have RIGHTS!! During Library Week the Centre for the Child is going to CELEBRATE these RIGHTS!! We want to know how you celebrate and delight in your rights as a reader.
28 July 2008 at 2:42 pm
I am usually an obsessive “finisher” of books (and movies for that matter) but I never finished “The Great Gatsby”. This is particularly shameful given what a slim volume it is. I also often want to read things out loud to others (especially if it’s funny).
My favourite reading spot? Bay window + floor (with or without cushions) + sunbeam = Bliss.
28 July 2008 at 4:30 pm
You are not alone. I failed in my mission to read Harry Potter, and I believe there is a whole clan of us.
28 July 2008 at 6:34 pm
Embarrassing thought it may be, I am a serial non-finisher of books. If I’m not enjoying it I think it’s pointless finishing, although perhaps I should be more careful in my selections in future. One of my most frequent traps is deciding to read those books you ’should read.’ Whether I should or not, Plato’s Republic is not something I WANT to read. I’m also a compulsive re-reader, virtually memorising things of dubious merit, which are too embarrassing to put into print…
28 July 2008 at 8:47 pm
So it is OK not to read the Harry Potter telephone book lookalikes – maybe its even ok to not like them either, still good to see children reading something other than comics
29 July 2008 at 9:33 am
I’m not huge fan of being read aloud to and when someone says, ‘listen to this” it’s the time for me to switch off. It never sounds as good as when you read it yourself.
I am also a secret non Harry Potter reader.
29 July 2008 at 2:53 pm
I grew up at a time when we were made to feel guilty if we didn’t finish reading a book we’d started, and I still have problems getting past this, so I think one of the rights to read, especially for children, is to feel ok about not finishing.
I also think that children should be allowed to blob read – we all do it as adults, so why can’t they?
I have never opened The Bone People, and never will, because when everyone was reserving it at the library, I had to help process those reserves!
29 July 2008 at 3:02 pm
I love The Rights of the Reader so much I had to buy the whole book. You can download the poster too – hilariously illustrated by Quentin Blake – from http://www.walker.co.uk/bookshelf/the-rights-of-the-reader-poster.aspx
Like Harriet I am a serial non-finisher of books, and I mainly buy books that are for dipping in to – the Rights of the Reader is one of those! One of my least favourite places to read is my exercycle. My favourite read-aloud is Too Many Daves by Dr Seuss. It makes my children groan but secretly they are grinning I’m sure.
29 July 2008 at 5:29 pm
I’m mostly a sometimes-grim finisher with a few notable exceptions – one was Erica Jong’s “Fear of Flying” which was so dreadful I had to ditch it after 50 pages (my usual cut-off point) although it was very un-PC to admit it. Some books I have had to read repeatedly to enjoy – Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow took me three goes as did Crime & Punishment. There must be a certain masochistic streak in me I think…but sometimes the rewards are worth it. For reading out loud – Pamela Allen’s Bertie & The Bear can’t be beaten…my children were able to recite it from memory from birth!
30 July 2008 at 9:10 am
I am a ditcher, if a book doesn’t have me in its grips quickly I move on to something else. Or skim read to the end. As I did recently with Mark E Smith’s autobiography – he was just such a boring negative old stick.
Recently I tried Watchmen, supposedly one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, but I cast it aside.
I re-read Jane Austen, Mary Webb and Ivanhoe by Walter Scott has had a few re-reads.
And reading out loud is fun … I often shout out “listen to this!” and go for it. Last book that got this treatment was “Bonk – the curious coupling of science and sex”, it’s madly funny.
30 July 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hmmm, I don’t know if I agree with the right to read anywhere – I was once driving alongside another car that was driving erratically, and when I looked over, the driver was reading! On a major highway! I mean, I like to read too, but come on!
1 August 2008 at 3:02 pm
The right to skip…this is a right that I want to support but I can’t imagine WHY anyone would want to. My 7 hour marathon of reading the last HP book was almost a life-changing experience. I didn’t eat, I didn’t go to the bathroom, I hardly even blinked trying to finish it. Imagine if I’d just opened up the back, saw the end and read it at a leisurely pace – Bah!
6 August 2008 at 2:41 pm
The right to play with touch and feel books even if you’re over 3 yrs. old. I get miffed when Mums won’t let their school aged children take them out because they’re babies books.So does that make me a big baby??