A Treatise In Defense of Reading the Last Chapter First

I'm someone who likes to know how things end. I go crazy during movies guessing how it will all turn out, I scour the internet for spoilers about my favorite TV shows, and yes, I read the last chapter of the book when I'm only about a quarter of the way in.

I know a number of people who are bothered that I have this habit*. Not just bothered, but utterly appalled. These people are not authors, they don't even read as avidly as I do, and yet this little thing seems to personally offend some of them. Why? What business is it of theirs if I read the last chapter first? It's not like I run around telling others and spoiling the end.

I don't like having to defend my reading habits, but I do wonder why it matters so much to some people how I read a book? And to turn the looking glass the other way, why is it that I am so driven to read that last chapter? Why am I so desperate to know?

For me, knowing the end actually improves the reading experience. If I don't know the end I am driven crazy with desire, and I skim through the book quickly just to find out what happens. I miss too much. Knowing the end of an engrossing book allows me to slow down my reading and really enjoy the prose, to appreciate the work and art that the author put into it. Mystery author Alafair Burke (although not an end reader herself) admitted in her interview on Talk of The Nation that most authors would actually prefer that a reader slow down to enjoy the art; setting, description, characters and prose.

Moreover, Burke says, once a book is in the hands of the readers the reading experience belongs to them, and if that bothers an author then the author needs to "get over it." I agree completely. If I'm impatient, that is my own failing. I work hard to temper that impatience in most areas of my life--with my children, in my buying habits, while driving--and I like to think that I'm fairly successful. But reading is mine. Reading takes place in my head and my heart and you aren't allowed in there. When an author is in the midst of writing a manuscript the work is theirs, utterly and completely. But once that book is on the bookshelves that work is mine... I will read it, write in the margins, approve or disapprove of the characters, and yes--read the last chapter first.

It's a compliment, really. if your book is boring I won't bother to read the last chapter, I simply won't care enough to do so.

But I have discovered a new obstacle to reading the last chapter first, and that is my own beloved Kindle! I downloaded this weekend the latest book by Stephenie Meyer for some indulgent reading; and sure enough, 1/4 of the way through the book I felt a desperate need to flip to the end and find out how it goes with our main characters. But with the Kindle you can't flip to the end! You can (by choosing the menu button) go to the "Cover", go to the "Table of Contents", or "Go to Beginning", but you cannot "Go to End". And so, my fellow readers, I was forced to read the book all the way through from beginning to end as god and authors intended.

It. Was. Torture.

But wait! It has just occurred to me... The Kindle also allows you to "Go to Location", and always tells you at the bottom of that little screen what the final location is... Gods be praised! I have found the Kindle loophole! My degenerate reading habits can continue.

*If you are one of those people who are bothered by this habit, I really would love to know why. Please comment and let me know what it is that bothers you so much.

The Guest Room Bookshelf

Every home should have a guest room bookshelf. Every hotel, every time-share, every cabin in the woods; all should have a guest room bookshelf. Every one of these places should have a guest room bookshelf not only because reading is important and one should always have a book within arm's reach, but because reading is one of the first things we want to do when we have leisure time. Now, I don't have a guest room. I don't have enough rooms (or enough guests) to devote one whole room specifically to that occasional purpose. Any guests of mine, I'm sorry to say, have to sleep in the kids' room or in the office (I promise I'll tidy up and put out clean sheets and towels!)--but I DO have a guest room bookshelf!

The idea came from Michael Dirda's book entitled Book by Book, Notes on Reading and Life. (Great book, review to come later.) Dirda points out (in chapter 3, "Work and Leisure") that any true reader will take books with her when she goes on vacation, but occasionally a traveler will find herself without a book to read, what then? According to Dirda, "in a properly appointed world you would simply borrow from a well-stocked shelf of guest-room books." Well, far be it for me to deny any of my guests a "properly appointed" travel experience. As soon as I read this I set about creating my own guest room bookshelf.

Dirda's guidelines for a proper guest room library are that it "avoid all the normal requirements of a 'good read.' Nothing too demanding or white-knuckled suspenseful. Ideally, items should be familiar, cozy, browsable, above all soothing..." A guest room library should contain one book from each of the major categories (listed below) and "all guest rooms are presumed to start with the Bible, Shakespeare, and at least one novel by Jane Austen." In his book Dirda then goes on to list his top 3 choices in each reading category, but this is my blog and you're going to have to be satisfied with my choices. If you want to read Dirda's choices (and they're very good, I highly recommend you do) you can buy his book.

Here are the books on my guest room bookshelf (as pictured above) from left to right:

1. The Yale Shakespeare (for the Shakespeare category)
2. The Stories of Hans Christian Anderson (Children's Classics category)
3. The Pre-History of The Far Side (Humor)
4. The DaVinci Code (Mystery category. This is, I admit, the only mystery book in my house)
5. 50 Great Short Stories (My own addition, there was no short story category)
6. Bartlett's Poems for Occasions (Poetry)
7. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar (for the "deep--but not too deep--thoughts" category)
8. The Hobbit (Fantasy)
9. Treasure Island (Children's Classics)
10. The Book of Great Books (Reference)
11. In Our Own Words, Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century (another Reference choice)
12. Pride and Prejudice (the Jane Austen contribution)
13. Dracula (Horror)
14. Everyman's Library Pocket Collection of Love Letters (Journals and Diaries)
15. Robot Visions (Science Fiction)
16. The Book That Changed My Life (Odds and Ends--and because I love this book)

The only category of Dirda's that is not represented on my bookshelf is the Biography category. Stephen King's On Writing is my choice for that category, which is currently lent out. I also have chosen, for my own reasons, not to include the Bible on my guest room bookshelf. (I can hear the cries of "heathen!")

Whether or not you have the room (or desire) for a guest room bookshelf, this was great fun as an exercise! I thoroughly enjoyed spending an afternoon going through my personal library, considering which would be the perfect book (or books) in each category. In many cases you're not choosing "the best of the best", and you're not even necessarily choosing your own favorites, you're choosing with an eye to what might inspire a visiting reader to settle in and get lost in a new adventure. Perhaps (and I may be reaching here) even inspire that visiting reader to discover a new author or genre. And I must admit, that challenge, that inspiration, is one of the things I love best.

So... if I don't keep my guest room bookshelf in an actual guest room, you may be wondering where I do keep it? In the hallway, of course! Between the two rooms that do serve as guest rooms when friends or family come to visit. And if its presence in the much-traveled hallway inspires my kids, their friends, or any dinner guests to pause and peruse--all the better!

What would your guest room bookshelf contain? Please comment and share your own choices!

Happy Reading!

Kindle 2, A Love Story

I have a new Amazon Kindle 2, and I love it. I have to make this as kind of an announcement because not more than 4 months ago I was swearing up and down that I would never want one of "these imposter electronic reading devices!" You see, I love books. Not just reading, I love books. I love their weight and heft, I love the paper between my fingers, I love the smell of them, and I absolutely love having them lining the walls of my house, surrounding me like old friends.

But I must admit, I love the Kindle. Before I got my own, I read about it in the NYTimes, and read what friends had to say about it on Twitter. When my curiosity finally got the better of me and I looked it up on Amazon, I was impressed. (Actually, to be perfectly honest, I was salivating!) What an amazing little gadget it is! A tablet about the size of a smallish hardcover book (closed) but thinner than a pencil, and oh so light. And on this tiny device you can carry 1500 books with you! Here are few other features that make me love the Kindle:

• Ability to bookmark pages and dog-ear corners (I ALWAYS do this in my books!)
• Ability to highlight passages and take notes on the text (I always do this too! Love marginalia.)
• Read-aloud function for just about every book you download can be turned on and off at will (although the computerized voice will not put audio book-makers out of business any time soon.)
• Change the size of the text from small to ultra large and many sizes in between.
• Instantly purchase and download books. This has already proven hazardous to my wallet. However, you may download samples of any book for free, so it hasn't been as hazardous as it could be.
• E-mail word, .pdf, picture files, etc. to your Kindle and take them with you wherever you go. (VERY handy for teachers, producers, anybody, really.)
• Basic web browsing.
• Built in dictionary (Oxford American).
• Subscribe to newspapers and magazines from the Kindle, new editions are delivered instantly. Subscriptions are cheaper too!
• Saves all your highlights, bookmarks, notes, clippings, etc. in a separate file which you can then transfer to your computer to edit or e-mail to friends.
• And (I love this) in sleep mode the Kindle displays various different authors or other literary items of interest.

I'm sure there's more, but I don't want to take up too much of your time. All I can say is that I am a convert. I love my Kindle, I truly love it.

There are drawbacks, of course. The price ($359!!) can be quite a hurdle, but as I said above, the cost of downloading a book to your Kindle is quite a bit cheaper than buying it physically. Another drawback is that not all books are yet available in Kindle format. I found that both Possession and Rabbit, Run were unavailable on my Kindle, sadly. However, I did download Pride and Prejudice for 99 cents! So it's hit and miss, but more hit than miss, I think.

Now, this is not to say that a Kindle will replace my library. Perish the thought! I still love my books. I will never stop wanting or buying physical books. I will always cherish my library and want to grow and nurture it. But the Kindle is a brilliant piece of technology and a wonderful halfway step. It's a perfect way to carry with you at all times all the multiple books one likes to read at once. It's also a nice way to try out books to see if they are a must-have for your physical library, or to read the "fluff" that you know you want want to share or keep on your shelf.

I love it. If you are a book-lover, this is a must-have.