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So, how to choose a book that you will certainly enjoy? There is always a book for everyone. You just need to find the one that fits your personality and tastes.
I’m not sure if it has anything to do with my OCD, but I can never leave a book half-way and go on to read a new book. It’s not possible to judge a book by its first few pages, so I proceed with the hope that it would get better. What if the story had a good twist, and what If I missed it? Sometimes it gets better, sometimes it doesn’t.
It’s a risk that I know I have to take. And a good book, makes it worth the risk. A friend of mine, however, who is also a voracious reader, sets a book aside the moment she loses interest. Even if it’s within the first 20 pages.
When I happened to talk with her about these habits of ours, we realized that both of us were at two extremes. We joked about how each one should have a threshold. She said that the threshold should be slightly higher for her (so that she doesn’t miss a book that might get better with the story) and slightly lower for me (so that I wouldn’t have to waste my time reading not-so-good books), considering our reading habits. Fair enough!
Fortunately for me, I’ve never regretted reading any book. Thanks to blurbs, they help me decide whether it is the kind of book that I normally read. But there is more to a book that what it says so in the blurbs. It can be better or worse. You never know that till you finish the book.
Yes, there have been instances when the plot would’ve been weak, or a cocktail of two of more old plots, unnecessary deviations, characters and what not. But I wouldn’t go to the extent of calling them bad. As long as there is at least one person who likes the book, I feel it can never be bad. It’s just that we might not have liked it.
So, when someone who wanted to start reading (it’s never late, you know!) asked me how I could find out if a book was good enough, I couldn’t give a convincing answer. What might be good for me, might not necessarily be good for others. Since I come from a family of voracious readers, my sister and father helped me initially by picking out books for me and recommending their favourites. Gradually I could read blurbs and find out, to an extent, if I would enjoy reading. Now I know what people mean when they say some things can be learnt only from experience.
There are many aspects which have to be considered before one comes to a conclusion about the book. For me it’s the story and then the writing style and of course the characters.
So what do you look for in a book? And at what point do you decide if a book is worth the entire journey? Do share your thoughts!
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Published here earlier.
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A Blogger from Chennai, now in Sydney, Australia. I like writing on habits, productivity, and life experiences. When I'm not writing, I read, try to balance being a foodie & a fitness enthusiast, and make read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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