Los tiempos de la lectura*

Then we come to a question that cannot be ducked: are there really 10,000 novels worth reading? Surely it is not essential to read every word an author wrote, and in the case of some well-known writers, one may not want to read anything at all. At some point, personal taste must come into it.

What a relief it was, last year, to learn of Milan Kundera's opinion that he based his reading on the premise that he got through books at the rate of 20 pages an hour. How the Society of Slow Readers enjoyed that confession!

There are those who read quickly, but many more, I fancy, are closer to Kundera's estimation than Hensher's. Keen reader that I am, I reckon I have done pretty well if, having spent three hours with a book, I have got through 100 pages.

Once I regretted being a slowcoach. Now I am content with my lot. It's like a cricketer building an innings. If a book is worth reading, it must be absorbed, sentence by sentence, which often means re-reading paragraphs if they are tricky - or if they are delightful. If others are able to zip through books, skimming the pages, it is a matter for them.

*Tomado del Telegraph