Completia

I did, at last, finish reading a book. This one was “Blessings” by Anna Quindlen. I enjoyed it, but there was something missing. I don’t know if it was the pace of the book, or maybe the characters. I couldn’t become a part of their lives, and that is what I like to happen when I read a book. Or maybe I am unable to concentrate on reading books as well. I also finished a book on the history of Orkney. Those islands have a very varied history, but somehow this book seemed to miss the point. I’ve read it very carefully, and I wanted to learn about the people and the great houses, but it wasn’t in there. It was more about ships than anything else. And the writing was chaotic, as if this writer had no editor to tell him where he went wrong. Strange book. I found some of the information I was looking for, and I did finish the book, but I am glad I can read other things again. I’ll have to look for a book that does tell me what I want to know.

I like to finish books that I’ve started, though I sometimes wonder why. I guess I like a sense of completeness, of finishing what I started, but there always is so little time, so why waste it on reading something you don’t really like? But that leaves me in the middle of books I still want to finish someday. And I know I started some books, put them away because I wasn’t interested, and then I loved them when I came back to them. So sometimes it does pay to have another go.

I have a special shelf in my bookcase for books I want to read in the near future, and those I still have to finish. “The Lord of the Rings” is still on there, as is “The Book of Fish”. And then there is “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”, “A Place of Greater Safety”, “The Autograph Man”, “A Son of the Circus” , “American Gods” and a few others. I am sure I will finish them some time… For some books you just need to be in the right mood. But I always have this hunger for books you just cannot put down once you’ve started them. Just recently I read “I Capture the Castle” and the “His Dark Materials” trilogy. Both kept me captivated, and made me want to spend more time each day reading.

I suffer from something called completia. Once I’ve discovered an author, I want to read all he or she has written. With some authors this works, but with others it doesn’t. You find out that the author is moving in a different direction from you, or you realise that all the books are basically the same and you have now gotten the message. But I find it hard to move on, and not get the next book.