I always feel guilty when I don’t finish a book! Especially a classic or one well-read by others.
Michael Greenbergwrites ofJorge Luis Borges:
He advises his students to leave a book if it bores them: “that book was not written for you,” no matter its reputation or fame.
Good advice, but not easily followed.
Borges’ advice isn’t easy to follow because the decision to continue reading is just another instance of that most insuperable of dilemmas: Should I stay or should I go? Should I press on to the summit, risking life and limb, or should I turn back, foregoing glory and the chance to prove myself against the unforgiving elements? I was warned, after all, that I would experience many, many, moments of utter exhaustion, that I would have to dig deep into reserves that I didn’t know existed. Should I persist in this floundering relationship and attempt to rescue it from the doldrums in which it finds itself, thus investigating the depths of…
View original post 357 more words
