Busy Bee that I am, I have not been able to devote time to reading or any of my hobbies. I obviously miss it, though I managed to read Blankets by Craig Thompson this week, and I continue to read Count of Monte Cristo in email. I actually read the emails every day now as opposed to forgetting about it and catching up later. There is quite a bit of political history in the book, and it’s just not that exciting as compared to the plight of Edmond who has not graced in the emails for over a week. I have not read Othello since last week. I always find that Shakespeare is fun but requires ample literary concentration. I will be back to reading form in, oh, 1.5 weeks.
Only one literary link this week, and it’s an interesting one indeed. The New York Times has an article called It’s Not You, It’s Your Books, an essay about love and literary taste. Just a few days ago, my close friend S and I were discussing this exact topic. I am quite resigned to the fact that I will probably not find a mate who reads or appreciates books and literature the way I do. Even at present, I can count the number of friends I have that engage in an active reading life on my hand. Finding friends who read is hard enough, I’m not going to raise a high bar for a partner who likes to read classics or–gasp–poetry like I do. So the idea of dumping someone for their literary taste is beyond silly to me because books and reading habits are not the be all and end all of people. They are not deal breakers. Though I can see it being apart of the deal breaker of incompatibility.
This is shallow though:
James Collins, whose new novel, “Beginner’s Greek,†is about a man who falls for a woman he sees reading “The Magic Mountain†on a plane, recalled that after college, he was “infatuated†with a woman who had a copy of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being†on her bedside table. “I basically knew nothing about Kundera, but I remember thinking, ‘Uh-oh; trendy, bogus metaphysics, sex involving a bowler hat,’ and I never did think about the person the same way (and nothing ever happened),â€
Firstly, I really do like The Unbearable Lightness of Being so there may be bias in this, but I can understand making a judgment on someone based on books you’ve both read, but on the basis of a book you haven’t even read? So I presume is what Mr Collins means when he said he knew nothing about Kundera. Any way, I would like a partner who reads quite a bit, but I agree with Ms Levy in the article when she says it’s a bit of a “luxury” to have a partner who meets your reading habits. Though I am amused that there is a dating site for fans of Ayn Rand. For the record, I don’t post my reading preferences on Facebook profile. While I frequent the site to keep in contact with friends, my profile page is sparse keeping with my private nature. I also do not like answering questions about favourite books and authors. Too many to name!
Thoughts on this article? Have you known others to break up based on books? Have you? Does your partner read as much or read at all?