71–79 of 79 posts
I'd argue that the novels the TFA author reads are boring to the TFA author -- until they're not. If you are reading a novel that works for you, it's often not boring from the opening line. Example: Anna Karenina. Gripping from the opening line (if you like the type of novel that it is; and it's fine if you don't, of course). Or alternatively, Pride and Prejudice. Again, that opener just sucks you in (if this is a bo…
It gets really interesting as you progress through the story.
Eh... some novels remain boring no matter how far I read on.
The author is probably more sensitive to the Stockholm Syndrome and totally unaware of the Sunk Cost fallacy: for such readers, after investing their time, it's cognitive dissonance driving the interest factor.
Of course, even an initially very boring novel might become less boring as one reads on, but this is no argument in favor of it, as it applies to all novels.
However, there are novels that build up such a crescendo intentionally (like the novels by Anthony Trollope). Others maintain an evenness that holds stable throughout the novel (Daniel Defoe), whereas some others, fluctuate irrationally and wildly (Tolstoy).
Classifying all novel 'types' as the same is an elementary mistake.
I disagree. Many novels have great openings. "The Horse's Mouth" by Joyce Cary had me from the opening paragraph. I could say the same about "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier or "the Crow Road" by Iain Banks. We nicknamed "the Matrix Reloaded", the "Mattress Resprung", because for me it illustrated a major problem in films and books... The beginning and end are great but they sag in the middle like an old mattress.
Probably Banks's most memorable opening line. Love Crow Road... Have you seen the tv adaptation? I keep meaning to watch it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It took me more than a week to go through the first chapter in the first Harry Potter book. It took me 4 days to finish the rest. This is because the pacing was wrong - the first chapter should have been the last.
Really? I thought the first Harry Potter book was very engaging. The second book had more dry spots for me.
Super cool, but absolutely meaningless the first time you read the book because you don't know it yet.
I think chapters one—sorry, chapters two and three is mostly Harry getting his letter and the various hi-jinx that Uncle Vernon goes through to avoid the owls finding Harry at increasingly improbable addresses where somehow the owls still find Harry.
Then Hagrid shows up and explains to Harry that you are a wizard. And for 13-year-old me, that was off to the races.
I disagree. Many novels have great openings. "The Horse's Mouth" by Joyce Cary had me from the opening paragraph. I could say the same about "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier or "the Crow Road" by Iain Banks. We nicknamed "the Matrix Reloaded", the "Mattress Resprung", because for me it illustrated a major problem in films and books... The beginning and end are great but they sag in the middle like an old mattress.
> It was the day my grandmother exploded. Probably Banks's most memorable opening line. Love Crow Road... Have you seen the tv adaptation? I keep meaning to watch it.
I should really give Consider Phlebas another go.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a rule a fourth grade teacher of mine had that she used in her English class to try and get some of the less literate kids up to par. That rule was embodied by the name she gave it, "Thirty minutes thirty pages." She gave them thirty minutes to read thirty pages of a book. A minute a page. Considering most of them were choosing things like Goosebumps that were only a hundred and twenty pages or so it was an…
I consider myself a slow reader so I am interested in this pacing rule. Do you remember how the pacing was enforced? Were there like minute sandtimers or was it just kind of like a 30 minute timer and you either met the pace or didn't?