Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010...8:38 am
Nancy Pearl and the Rule of 50
RULE: Give a book 50 pages. Don’t like it after 50? Stop reading. Bring back to library. No questions asked!
Reading is freedom:
- Freedom to read what YOU like, not what the “experts” say you should like.
- Freedom to try anything.
- Freedom to read both highbrow and lowbrow.
- Freedom to stretch yourself.
Life is too short to read uninteresting books! Give yourself permission to try—and to skip—new books.
Nancy Pearl is as close as librarians get to Rock Star status. She has read EVERYTHING and written multiple books (Book Lust, More Book Lust) on picking books that YOU want to read. She also encourages readers to read what they like in any genre, not just what the experts (or Oprah!) say you should read.
Plus, she is the human model for the Librarian Action Figure, with Amazing Shushing Action!
What books did not make your Rule of 50?
(Confession: I have never finished Pride and Prejudice, though I was assigned it for multiple classes. And I threw Eat, Pray, Love across the room. I had enough of the whining after 5 pages.)
10 Comments
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:59 am
Great post Suzzane!!!
I never finished “The Dollmaker” and “Inherent Vice”. I only finished “The DaVinci Code” out of absolute spite (and so that I could wholly dislike the book). However, when I did finish, it was also thrown across the room.
I’ve tried time and time again to read “The Similarion” but it’s just too dense – I couldn’t even make it 50 pages!
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 am
I’ve always loved this….
“There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag-and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty-and vise versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you. ”
— Doris Lessing
November 4th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Right time is so important! Books that I loved as a teen would seem boring now. And I have said over and over I am just too old for Twilight…all that looking while not looking is tedious.
I wonder what books I missed or tried that I can look forward to in my future?
November 4th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I’ve skipped The Silmarillion for the same reason. DaVinci Code? I could hardly watch the movie.
Maybe we should start a list of “Must-skip Reads!”
November 5th, 2010 at 3:50 am
There are millions of books out there, and I cannot afford to spend time reading 50 pages before deciding it’s not a good read. Fortunately, there are book reviews available on the net to help you decide what is interesting and what is not.
November 5th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Wade, reviews are a great resource. Amazon and Goodreads often help me decide whether to check a book out…or NOT!
November 9th, 2010 at 11:18 am
I like the “must skip reads” post idea a lot!
Da Vinci Code would be on that list for me too…
November 9th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I’ll add Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (sequel to Eat Pray Love) to that list. And Merle’s Door by Ted Kerasote. Though one of our library student assistants really liked it.
February 13th, 2011 at 9:37 pm
I had never heard of the rule of 50 but I agree with you fully. I read a lot but if a get about 50 to 75 pages into a book and I just can’t wait to read the next page i know it’s time to hang it up.
February 14th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Even fast readers cannot read it all! I use the rule of 50 to get myself off the hook when needed. Sometimes a book just is not for me.
Thanks for the comment!
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