Should Reads and Want to Reads
Modern Mrs. Darcy sent a newsletter in June that was one of those magical notes that you are so grateful that another person wrote. She was commenting on a picture of her library fines receipt and was taken aback that other people were surprised that she ran up library fines. She wrote, “I was surprised that some of you expected me to somehow be above the run-of-the-mill hardships of the reading life.”
She goes deeper into this, explaining that she is a reader, just like all run-of-the-mill readers, and she therefore goes through all the struggles that readers go through. She has to make reading decisions and she’s strapped for time and she finds books she loves and books she doesn’t. She has “should reads” and “want to reads” and sometimes she drops one for the other: “I read four books on vacation, but only one of them did me any good—if you’re talking about crossing titles off my TBR, or racking up books I can talk about on the podcast or Modern Mrs Darcy.”
Thank you.
I really struggle with the should reads and want to reads. There are plenty of books I feel I should read, either because they deserve attention or they contain information I want or I want to support the author, but I’ve written before about feeling guilty turning more often to my Want to Read list. Currently, they’re period-piece mysteries like Her Royal Spyness or The Mitford Murders. Not really mind-expanders but good fun that I feel like picking up at the end of the day. And I felt so down in France because I was slogging through a book I didn’t want too read but felt obligated to read.
I’m grateful she wrote, “I don’t always get this reading thing right, but I know this: rarely does a day go by where I don’t talk to some reader, somewhere, about some aspect of their reading life—and in all this talking I’ve found that we readers can be pretty hard on ourselves.”
That made all the difference. I’m not saying that I won’t feel guilty from time to time, but sometimes we just need to hear, “me too!” and not feel alone.
What are you reading right now?
12 comments
Her Royal Spyness and the Mitfords are lovely. I’m a huge cozy British mystery fan and they are some of my faves.
From Scratch by Tembi Locke.
I also have City of Girls because it came in from the libary, but I won’t even get it started before it’s due.
I struggle to avoid a fine with both.
I am currently between books: finished two while on vacation and am about to start my book club’s selection for the month (which looks OK but isn’t something that I likely would’ve chosen for myself).
My TBR pile(s) is so huge, it’s sometimes hard to decide what to read next… and yes, it includes both stuff I want to read and stuff I think I really should read.
I started “American Carnage” by Tim Alberta on the plane home, and it’s good, but I haven’t picked it up again since we got back home over a week ago. I seem to have lost my reading momentum again (after ripping through one book after another in July); hope I find it again soon! I also have “I Love Dick” by Chris Kraus to read for an online book club by the end of the month. Apparently it’s not as pornographic as it sounds, lol.
I’m not going to finish reading Hild (which is dense and interesting, but I’m not really up for it just now). I’m just starting There, There (which is a should-read, but seems engaging so far). I have a bunch of other things to read too, but I’m reading according to my mood. That calls for want-to-reads and some stuff I have may not make the cut.
I’m rereading the last KJ Charles Rag and Bone book.
I was going to say that I don’t believe in “should reads” other than for work, but I do have Atomic Habits on my night stand that I will get around to eventually. In theory that will make me a better worker, but the reason I need to read it is also the reason I’m not reading it. (Well, along with not being particularly sparked by the author’s story of hardship in the intro because I had just listened to the By the Book podcast talking about how all self-help books seem to start that way, which isn’t true for the more academic self-help books I tend to read, but is definitely true for this book.)
At bedtime, book from one of the many mystery series I read. Otherwise: White Kids.
I struggle with the same thing, there are those books that you know you SHOULD read because they are important or essential or someone important to you has suggested you read them. I’m currently ready The Feast of the Goat and When I Was a Puertorican
Right now I am reading “Animals in Translation – (Using the mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior)” By Dr. Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson. It is very enlightening even though I would categorize it as a “should read.” Lately my books of choice have been related to my kids diagnosis. I have been trying to simultaneously read a “pleasure” book (a book I want to read) but I just can’t read two books at once, so this one has been winning more of my time.
I’m urrently reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer for my vacation book and loving it but I have a serious read too – The Race Beat about the the press and the civil rights struggle
Yay, I’m not alone – thank you, Mel! For the last few years I’ve been suffering the loss of my reading mojo, and I’ve decided it is because I have been reading what I thought I SHOULD read, not what I necessarily WANTED to read. In the last couple of months, I’ve read more than I have in years, and it was simply because I chose books that sounded good, and continued with them only because of that.
I don’t get library fines, because I read e-books from my library, but it is frustrating if they expire before I finish them, and find that others have the book on hold.
What I love about readers is that they generally understand that we need lighthearted, fun reading just as much as we need worthy reading.
Ah, I am a library fine person myself! I look at it as sort of donating to the public library. I still feel shameful though. I tried hard to balance my Want and Should read lists this summer, and set some aside to read something purely fun.
I just started Reaper At the Gates by Sabaa Tahir, the third book in the Ember In The Ashes series (YA). Although I’m real annoyed that they changed cover art, so the first two books are lovely, saturated color abstracted art and the new ones are horrible tinted photorealistic renderings of the main characters in a white background. UGH.