elaby | Stoppit, brain!

I’m having something of a reading crisis, O Great LJ Hivemind. And I think it’s grad school’s fault.

Nowadays, things I read fall into three categories, and these categories seem to define the level of enjoyment I get out of reading.

Category 1: Fiction of Awe-Inspiring Rockitude. Examples include Rose Daughter, Inkheart, and anything by Neil Gaiman. When I read these, I am utterly enthralled by the story. I’m taken into the book’s world, and the only outside thoughts that come in (outside thoughts being stuff not related to the plot/characters as if they were real) are “Oh man, this is so skillful. I should take notes.”

Category 2: Pretty Good Fiction That Should By All Rights Be Enjoyable. Examples include the Eragon books and the first two novels of the Dresden Files. My problem lies in this section. No matter the fact that I should be getting pleasure out these – the only thing that goes through my head as I read these is analysis from a writerly perspective. Why did the author have character X do that? Why didn’t he pace this differently? He should have told us that earlier. He shouldn’t be making character Y so over-the-top that I already hate him/her when I’m obviously not supposed to. That metaphor didn’t make any sense. That analogy purposefully pointed at something that throws me out of the narrative. OMG BRAIN, SHUT UP.

My enjoyment of reading is seriously being compromised by my stupid head, and I don’t know how to make myself stop. I can’t turn it off. I feel like either I trust the author or I don’t, and when I don’t, I spend the entire time picking apart the writing and trying to figure out what effect the author was trying to accomplish. It’s driving me BATTY.

Oh, and there’s also Category 3: Nonfiction. I’m pretty good with nonfiction – if it’s metaphysical stuff, I form my own opinions given the material and I take into consideration the way the author presents it. If it’s history, I take in the facts and consider the spin the author puts on it by the language he or she uses. I’m not having too much of a dilemma with this, except that sometimes I feel bad that I only feel the need to blog about a nonfiction book if it’s pissing me off in some way.

But my problem with Category 2 is driving me insane. I feel like I got that way by the end of the Harry Potter series, too, and I really should have been able to enjoy that for itself and not for what it said about JKR’s writing decisions. Has anyone else ever had this problem? This isn’t to say I think it’s bad to think about the writing process while you’re reading fiction... I’m just sick of it getting in the way of my enjoyment.

In slightly related news, I got two new books last Saturday - Walking with the Green Man by Bob Curran and A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk by Edain McCoy. I'm having issues with the former because while it's very interesting, it's written at about the level of a mediocre college essay. Please stop insulting my intelligence by repeating your VERY SIMPLE thesis at the end of EVERY PARAGRAPH, plzkthnx. Also, get an editor, because if you have a PhD you really should know the correct use of the word "however." The Guide to Faery Folk is much much better, though, and although I've disagreed with it in places, it gives me interesting things to think about and has a lot of depth so far.

For some reason, I have no problem picking apart nonfiction ^^;;