The main reason I don't read books is I'm scared of not liking it. How do I start reading?If I give it a chance and don't like it, yeah I can just put it down, but I still wasted hours of time. I'm rarely interested after reading the first page so I don't know when to stop.
>>24109412It's ok anon, no problem.
>To know the vintage and quality of a wine one need not drink the whole cask. It must be perfectly easy in half an hour to say whether a book is worth anything or worth nothing. Ten minutes are really sufficient, if one has the instinct for form. Who wants to wade through a dull volume? One tastes it, and that is quite enough-- more than enough, I should imagine.-Oscar Wilde
How is it a waste? You learned it’s shit. You might have even learned why it’s shit. Developing taste requires exposure to the bad as well as good.
>>24109416This is good advice. 10 minutes you think?
>>24109422I think 30-60 minutes gives you a better estimate, sometimes you have to get used to the author's style.
>>24109429Sounds fair.
>>24109412Source for picrel?>How do I start reading?You just read the whole thing.
>>24109412>scared of wasting time>comes to 4chan
>>24109412You'll know if a book is genuinely shit within the first few pages. If it's not insufferable then keep reading, and if you end up not liking it you'll at least be able to know why and it will inform your understanding of good and bad writing.
>>24109412>but I still wasted hours of time.Actually time yourself reading, it's not as much of a time investment as you think it is. I've put more than a few terrible books down and I don't think it has taken me more than 30 minutes each time to figure it out.
do you worry you're wasting the time you spend eating?alien perspective, gobsmacked
>>24109416I started reading a Henry James book and I lost interest after one chapter. Contrary to what people say its not the prose at all thats the problem. I think its fine. I just really didn't care and wasn't in the mood for the subject.
>>24109451It's some guy I edited in faceapp to look younger. I don't know who the original model is.
>>24109412One can learn a lot from shit writing. Scatology is a legitimate scientific field after all. Don't worry if it's shit. Think about what you like and dislike about the work and realize it will always benefit you even if it's shit, you'll get a new experience from it and improved your reading skill, and you'll get to say that fans of the work have shit taste. But just figure out a category you like and read about it and go from there. I like played the video game Metro 2033, so I read the Metro 2033 book. It's a very easy methodology. I like reading about ancient culture and history, so any book about that subject is interesting. Start with history, from there go into myths, and then you can easily slide into fiction.
>>24109412I do this as well, except with music.
