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‘Read what you like’ is not just a statement of freedom
Scott Woods
As a librarian and a writer I am here to tell you that it’s OK to stop reading a book you aren’t feeling.
One should derive engagement from reading. Some people use “joy” or “pleasure” where I have used “engagement,” but as a writer I can tell you that authors don’t need that kind of pressure. We are perfectly content with you Marie Kondo-ing our book out of your rotation if you’re not enjoying it. I speak for all writers when I say that we’d rather you stop reading halfway through our books and say, “It wasn’t for me,” than finish in order to confirm whether or not we suck.
It has been a while since I dipped into the lore of the Lewis & Clark expedition. I had a major fixation for about 10 years, starting about the time
Maybe Iâm just getting old, but this world is in too much of a hurry. Fast food, instant coffee, video on demand. ⦠Thereâs no waiting except in a baseball game, and some people want to add a clock even to that.
Every now and then on social media I see where people have read so many books this year, and theyâre on pace to reach their goal of so many more before the end of this year. Me? Iâve spent the past 12 months slowly re-reading books Iâve read before, and Iâve learned new ways to appreciate them.
True West Magazine
Jim Hoy’s highly personal biography of the Kansas Flint Hills, two new biographies of Butch Cassidy, Bill Neal’s autobiography and Deborah Swenson’s debut Western novel.
From my earliest years, I remember my parents sharing with me their love of the American West and their app-reciation and knowledge of the West’s writers, artists, educators and filmmakers. I discovered quickly that I could travel great distances from North Hollywood, California, across the West through the pages of Western writers whose personal experiences and imaginations allowed me to saddle up right along with them and realize “firsthand” the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, the magnificent mystery of the Grand Canyon and the endless, waving, undulating sea of grass of the Great Plains. I know that if I had been given Jim Hoy’s