An Avid Readers Bill of Rights

I read all the time. Every time I leave the house I have a book on me, so delayed trains, waits in doctors offices, waits in any lines - none of this bothers me, because I have my book.

But I also have learnt that there are some books I don't want to read, even though everyone else is reading them (Da Vinci Code being one that springs to mind.) I had an interesting insight the other day when discussing theatre vs film, and how in film, the director can control where you look by where s/he points the camera, but in theatre you can look anywhere you like, and it makes for a different experience. I used to think books, like film, had more control, because you had to read what was there, but then I realized that people skim, they read the end first, they miss bits, they read out of order. The do all sorts of weird and mysterious things and the author can't control for it at all, so books are more like plays when it comes to the audiences focus, the audience can do pretty much as it wants.

And then I came across this - Danial Pennac's bill of readers rights which spoke to me:

1. The right to not read

2. The right to skip pages

3. The right to not finish

4. The right to reread

5. The right to read anything

6. The right to escapism

7. The right to read anywhere

8. The right to browse

9. The right to read out loud

10. The right to not defend your tastes

I'm with him!