Even a bad TV series occasionally has its golden moments. I’ve always remembered a line in “Providence” (1999-2002), an otherwise listless drama about a woman named Syd (Melina Kanakaredes) who returns to her Rhode Island hometown to practice medicine, where she is perpetually hectored by the ghost of her mother (Concetta Tomei).
One night, the annoying wraith advises her daughter to go to bed early. “Big day tomorrow!” Mom says.
“Why?” Syd asks.
Mom’s reply: “They’re all big days.”
And so it is with books: They’re all big books. They all matter. The ones you don’t read end up being as important as the ones you do; our lives are as defined by the stories we miss as by those we embrace and savor.
That’s just one more of my Rules for Readers, a concept I introduced a couple of weeks ago, with a promise that I would cede the floor to others to share their rules. I received dozens of e-mails, filled with interesting and creative suggestions. Here are just a few:
Paul Clark, of Oak Park, warns fellow readers to watch out for books with giant author photos on the cover instead of inside the book. Moreover, “if the type size of the author’s name on the cover is larger than the title of the book, the book is probably not very good.”
Clark adds, “I take an actuarial view of reading — take your current age, your likely life span, the average number of books read per year. From that, figure out how many books you have left to read in your life. … Life is too short to feel obligated to a writer while you wait for him/her to dazzle.”
When Kathryn Magendie, of Maggie Valley, N.C., found herself rolling her eyes recently at an author’s orgy of adverbs, she resisted the impulse to stop. “When I reached the end of this book, I was mad I’d stayed with it, and I thought, ‘Should have trusted those eye-rolling instincts.'”
Marie Anderson, of La Grange, has a four-point system: “Read outside your comfort zone”; “Participate in a book club”; “Pay attention to recommendations that fit you”; and “Use the library.”
Both Peter Quagliana, of Chicago, and Mike Cafferata, of Evanston, advise readers to keep lists of titles they have read. “I keep my records on an Excel spreadsheet to satisfy my left-brainedness,” Quagliana notes. Such a list, Cafferata says, “not only gives you a better idea of how much you read … it also provides you with a nostalgic hour or two on New Year’s Day.”
Bob Sullivan, of Forest Park, recommends that people read “slowly and carefully.” Going slow is fine with Anne O’Donnell, of Buffalo Grove — as long as you give up quick if it’s not working for you. “There’s absolutely no reason,” she writes, “to keep reading something that’s not delighting you in some way.”
Sonnet Schulz, of Wheaton, suggests that readers look to other lands for great reading: “It’s fascinating to read stories told from a distinctly non-Western point of view,” such as “Buchi Emecheta, Peter Abrahams, Nadine Gordimer, Sibusiso Nyembezi.”
Pam Herstein, of Buffalo Grove, writes, “If you absolutely love the book, do not see the movie! You will be sorely disappointed. Case in point: ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife.'”
Ellen Henderson, of Glenview, favors the perusal of book reviews and lists of contest winners for ideas on what to read next.
Susan Dennison, of Chicago, and Kathleen Reinmann, of Winnetka, recommend revisiting children’s books. “There’s nothing like a little ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ ‘Little Women’ or ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ to cheer you up when the world seems to be going to pot,” writes Reinmann. Dennison concurs: “Nothing fills you with hope and happiness like a children’s book.”
More Top Picks Trays Plants
Joan Colby, of Elgin, has a long list of rules. Among them is the tip, “Write your own critique after finishing a book.” Rosemary Balczo, of Dyer, Ind., says, “Carry around a little notebook with you to write down book suggestions that you will check out the next time you are in a book store.”
Finally, Barbara McLachlan, of Oak Park, and Mary Rayis, of Hinsdale, take issue with the whole notion of rules. “Don’t have rules,” says McLachlan, “except to do it only for enjoyment and learning.” Rayis writes, “Simply put, there are no rules.”
The rule to have no rules reminds me of the old “Bullwinkle” sight gag: A posted bill that proclaims, “Post No Bills.”