Keep Going!
“A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.” This is one of those reading and writing quotes that gets bandied around — this one’s attributed to Salman Rushdie. From a writing perspective, yeah, that’s great inspiration and advice. From a reading perspective, eh…
Spotted the other morning: The ending of the temporary, construction-related tunnel on the rail trail where I run. (If you go back to the post about Machine Dreams by Jayne Anne Phillips, it’s the same tunnel with the Abraham Lincoln/Peter Drucker [?] quote.) It says “keep going!,” and I’m sure it’s meant in the very generic “life is good” sense, although I used it as a bit of encouragement to keep running even though it’s really angled for the benefit of train commuters.
But so too with books. I’m not saying to never abandon a book that you don’t like. (Cue the “life is too short to…” argument. There are for sure books I don’t finish. Most recent examples: The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk because I couldn’t get through something that dense at the moment, but also a handful of books that were really not my cup of tea even though they seem to be everyone else’s.) But if you overlay this idea with Rushdie’s statement of “ignoring,” well…I don’t think that’s great advice. Engaging with things we “do not like” is one of the best ways to learn.
Otherwise, maybe we end up like the large metal rooster sculpture sequestered behind a fence that was also spotted on my run — looking out while remaining unapproachable and inaccessible … and also a little rusty. (Second pic, and I have no idea what’s going on there…) #KeepGoing
originally published on instagram