Vladimir Nabokov seems to be a highly opinionated individual. He believes that a “good reader” should come into a book without any preconceived notions about it. He believes that a “good reader” always re-reads a book as to grasp it in its entirety. He even has opinions about what makes some writers “good” and makes some mediocre. He believes a good reader “is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense”.

The question I find myself asking is “Who is this Nabokov to say who is a good reader?”. I believe I am a good reader, but I only like to read things that interest me. Some have declared Charles Dickens to be one of the greatest writers of all time 1, The Catcher in the Rye is on the Time Top 100 greatest novels of all time list 2. Trying to read Tales of Two Cities makes me fall asleep faster than George H.W. Bush listening to the former first lady speak 3. I don’t believe you can say that somebody is a good writer, or somebody is a good reader. People will read if they have an interest in what they read. I can’t say I have a favorite writer, or a favorite genre of books, because I don’t. I read some things, and some things catch my interest. If that happens I will likely re-read the book eventually, but that is not something you should strive to do. If you don’t like a book, and are having trouble reading it, that does not necessarily mean that you are a bad reader, or that the author is a bad writer: you simply aren’t taken with the story.



1.) http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081029061046AAovL5E

2.) Grossman, Lev; Richard Lacayo (2005). "All-Time 150 Novels: The Complete List". Time. http://205.188.238.181/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html

3.) http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/1/George-H-W-Bush-finds-first-lady-s-speech-boring-653052.html