@theredheadreads

Friday, February 17, 2012

Second Chance

Have you finished reading a novel and thought, "why did I just waste my time?"

{If you say this every time you read a book, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to those bibliophobes who are as bound to reading as some people are bound to coffee.}

Those destested books get put on a bookshelf to gather dust or thrown in a bin and are eventually donated to a charity or thrift store of some sort. Either way, the future of that book is bleak--dust or destitution.

I was in fourth grade when I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for the first time. And, I must admit, when I finished reading I really did feel as though I'd wasted hours of my all important 10-year-old life. For those of you doubters, yes, I understood the general outline of the story. So, why didn't I enjoy this classic of British literature that so many bibliophobes like myself relish to read time and time again?

I thought the story was gross. I was a fourth grader reading about a lady who marries a man 20 years her senior--I was bound to dislike the book. For the past 13 years I have avoided Bronte's masterpiece like the plague. First impressions die hard. But, the time has come for me to give Jane Eyre a second chance. I can't promise that my opinion will do I complete 180, but I do promise to read with better understanding. Stay tuned as I reread this classic from cover to cover.

What novel have you read that you felt was a waste of time?
Have you ever given a book a second chance?

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