A Word from Austin Kleon
“Stop reading books you don’t like.
Every hour you spend inching through a boring book
is an hour you could’ve spent
sailing through a brilliant one.”
~ Austin Kleon
How can one person adore a certain novel, biography, short story, or nonfiction tome while loads of other people think it’s meh? How can someone tell you or me about a book that deeply impacted them and changed their life for the better and then you or I read ten pages of said book and think it’s the most boring drivel we’ve ever seen?
I don’t think it’s the fault of the person who recommended the book or the author or the book itself. It’s not that one reader is smarter or more well-rounded than another. I think this kind of thing happens merely because there’s no such thing as an objectively good book—there are only books we like and those we don’t, books that resonate and books that fall flat. And I think that’s different for each of us.
Sometimes it’s timing. Sometimes it’s life seasons and events. But mostly, it’s just preference. Similar to the way I love a good pb&j on wheat and no one else in my family will come within 15 feet of it.
That’s why there are so many books in the world.
Which is why I love this advice from Austin Kleon — “Stop reading books you don’t like. Every hour you spend inching through a boring book is an hour you could’ve spent sailing through a brilliant one.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this since I read it.
He doesn’t say we should stop reading bad books. He doesn’t say we should stop reading stuff that’s silly or books that are in or out of our comfort zones. He’s strictly saying we should choose for ourselves what we want to spend our time reading. I think it’s advice we all need to hear.
Somewhere along the way, we were taught to always finish what we start, and if we spent money on something, we should “get the goody out of it”. I don’t think that advice should apply to books.
Also, reading books in this digital age of ours, whether on real paper, an e-reader or on audio, sometimes feels like more than just reading. It feels like an act of protest and defiance, like we’re reading for the rights and futures of readers everywhere against over-consumerism, gross capitalism, planet-destroying data centers, and brain-numbing artificial intelligence bots. Which, honestly, we probably are. (Did you know AI companies are now buying up rare books at a large scale, shredding them, and putting them in the landfill just so they can scan them into AI models? Seriously.)
I’m not saying reading for those reasons isn’t important. It is.
But let’s not forget that we read for fun, too. We read for the pleasure of it, for the ideas that come, for the empathy we gain, for the way certain stories go down deep into our bones. For the way certain books pull us into them, almost like they’re calling to us.
Let’s not forget that we read because we want to, and the wanting is the fun of it.
So, if you’ve ever started a book and hated it but kept going because you felt too guilty to leave it half-read, or one-fifth read, or 1/400th read, let this be your permission slip to let it go.
Seriously, let it go. Never feel guilty about abandoning a book again.
Let this be your reminder that for every hour you spend on a story that isn’t resonating with you, you’re missing out on one that might just change your life.
Set that book down and pick up whatever tickles your fancy.
Your fancy matters.
Here’s what I’m reading right now ⤵
WHAT’S ON MY NIGHT STAND
I just finished the first of Lois Lowry’s The Giver Quartet, and I’ll start the next one tonight. (My plan is to read them in publication order: The Giver (1993), Gathering Blue (2000), Messenger (2004), Son (2012), but I spent way too much of my evening reading time watching Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay series this week. So creepy, so New England.) Up next will be Lois Lowry’s new novel Building 903 (pub day 9/29).
WHAT’S IN MY EARBUDS
This morning I finished How to Write a Love Story by Catherine Walsh (loved it!) and started The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which has been on my TBR since I fell in love with TJR’s work back in 2024 (here’s a link to my first gush about her) and then fell even harder for her stunning novel Atmosphere last summer (here’s a link to my gush about that one too).
I don’t know if I’ll finish the last third of Ann Patchett’s 2019 novel The Dutch House. It really is so good, and I feel especially tied to it because of the almost-main-character named Celeste, but I don’t feel the need to finish it. Weird. I guess we’ll have to see.
WHAT’S IN MY MORNING BASKET
I’m still making my way through the rest of the Austin Kleon collection, trying to savor them: Don’t Call It Art and Steal Like an Artist were phenomenal, Keep Going has been the most impactful, and I’m still saving Show Your Work for last.
WHAT’S ON MY WEEKEND TBR LIST
The newest issue of Oh Reader Magazine is still on my coffee table calling my name, and I’m heading to the library this afternoon to see if I can find a good book or two about cooking that might inspire me to eat something nutritious since we’ve been primarily eating snacks since dropping the boys off at school last week. (I haven’t quite figured out how to get motivated to cook something good for just the two of us yet.)
What about you? Read any good books lately?
I’d love to know :) Send me a message!
✌🏼️💓 📚
Celeste
did AI write this? nope, this lady did ⤴ always