I have been guilty of each and every one
of these bibliophile misdeeds. To avoid making these mistakes, it helps to
be cognizant of what they are and how they may put-off your love of
reading. My list is, of course, not exhaustive. Please feel free to add other
ways in which your enthusiasm for the written word has been destroyed or
derailed.
1. By taking too long to
finish reading a particular book - many a decent book have been
utterly destroyed for me simply because I took too long to get through them.
Sometimes this is because of a busy work or personal life that interferes with
my time that is generally allotted to reading; others it is because I am
reading the wrong book.
2. Because of reading the
wrong book—what makes a book wrong? Some people say that if a
book does not grab you in the first 50 pages that you should give
up reading it. I don’t know if I, however, subscribe to an exact number of
pages that must be read before giving up. Sometimes books get started a bit
late. Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Everything is Illuminated” for example takes
a while to get heated up, but once it’s there, this is one of the most
incredible books.
3. Through turning your
leisure activity into a chore—if reading as a hobby is very
important to you, it’s best not to subject yourself to reading materials that
can be deemed more as work than pleasure. A classic example of this
phenomenon is graduate school. I am not suggesting that you forego higher
education to maintain your zeal for the written word; rather i’d like you
to understand that you may undergo a 2-, 3- or even 5- year hiatus in this
instance.
4. In choosing to miss out on
other activities to sit at home and read—so you’re a book-worm
that probably means you, like many others who share your passion, are an
introvert. That’s great, but don’t use reading as an excuse to miss out on some
of the other things life has to offer, like a social life. Don’t get too caught
up in the fictional realm that you forget that life exists outside of the pages
of a novel!
5. Upon assigning too much
meaning to fictional characters—Loved ‘Twilight’ and now find
yourself pining for a boyfriend just like Edward Cullen? No man even comes
close? Surprise, surprise. Never measure real people up to invented ones,
everybody loses. Similarly, if you find a glimmer of someone you know in a
villainous character, you may start subconsciously assigning some of the
fictional player’s deeds to your real-life loved one. Don’t do it!
Blog Tour Notes
THE BOOK: Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t. When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider. Get your copy today by visiting Amazon.com’s Kindle store or the eBook retailer of your choice. The paperback edition will be available on November 24 (for the author’s birthday).
THE CASH
PRIZES: Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift
card as part of this special blog tour. That’s right! Just leave a comment
below saying something about the post you just read, and you’ll be entered into
the raffle. I could win $100 too! Please help by voting for my blog in the traffic-breaker
poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted
blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for
your help with that.
THE GIVEAWAYS:
Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its
paperback release by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d
like an autographed postcard from the author;
you can request one on her site.
THE
AUTHOR: Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell
stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her
left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in
Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves
to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb.
Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t
forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!
