What I learned from my BFFs (Book Festival Friends)

If Malcolm Gladwell is correct and it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery of a skill, I’ve certainly done the time to become a fine reader. The difference between mastery and truly owning a skill is the continuing passion to improve and find new opportunities to learn from others.

For the last ten years I have been taking an intensive course in critical reading, no classroom or tests involved. If you have served with me on a book festival committee or been a member of one of my book groups, I have you to thank for the lessons. So here’s some of what I’ve learned:

• It isn’t a bad book just because you don’t like it. Not every book works for every reader. Just like the car you test drive or the great looking pair of shoes, it doesn’t always suit.  There is no crime in putting down a book if you really can’t get into it. Figure out what it is that turns you off. There are people very uncomfortable with multiple narrators or time jumping.  Others dislike lengthy descriptions with little dialog or action. Take a few minutes and consider whether someone you know might enjoy it.  And sometimes it is poorly written or flat-out boring and you can chalk it up to experience.
• Reading a book knowing nothing about it can be exhilarating. Publishers and authors supply bookstores, bloggers, reviewers and book festivals with advance copies to build a buzz and secure orders. This may be the first exposure to a new author. Often these early editions look nothing like the finished product – no fancy cover, no laudatory blurbs. While you may kiss a lot of frogs before finding a prince, it is great when it happens. Sometimes a published book has just been below the radar waiting for someone to wave the flag. It could be you!
• Authors are interested in what readers take from their writing. I’ve been lucky to facilitate discussions with a few authors about their books and to talk to several one on one. With few exceptions they’ve been curious about what has piqued the most conversation and what characters/situations were liked or troubling. Authors of both nonfiction and fiction spend so much time on research these days. They are very appreciative of questions about how they came to their ideas and the process to get from a glimmer of an idea to a finished title.
• Sharing the reading experience with others takes time. It just takes longer to read a book that is under consideration as a book group title or to be reviewed. At this point it is almost second nature to create discussion questions as I read and mark passages to go back to later. I spend time thinking about the author’s intention or how a particular title connects to a different author’s work or a museum exhibit I may have seen. My matchmaking goes beyond the people in a living room discussion. It’s so nice when people come up to me about a book they have read and ask for suggestions. My TBR (to be read) pile inevitably gets longer after they share what they have found.
• Make time for “just for fun” reading. I love a good mystery. While I don’t completely write the genre off for discussion purposes, many are good reads better consumed and passed along to a friend. Thankfully my facilitator eyeshade doesn’t kick in when I settle in to read one.  But don’t be surprised if you see a write-up of a favorite mystery author here before too long because sometimes you just have to share.

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