For a long time, I was under the impression that as an English major and lover of books, there were certain writers l just had to read and be inspired by their words.  I had a long list of “must-reads” though I had no real interest in reading them except for the fact that these books were literary masterpieces.

Over the years, I’ve been told by various teachers and professors to develop a taste for James Joyce. And I’ve tried. But truthfully, I find him so daunting to read that it’s not enjoyable. I just think of Joyce as he is going blind, working on one sentence for hours and hours. I feel like I should take one day to read just one of his sentences to get the full impact. It’s daunting. Honestly, I never finished any of Joyce’s books because of the above reason and truthfully, I just didn’t connect to what he was writing. I never developed a taste for James Joyce as my literary teachers suggested. You know what? The fact that I don’t read James Joyce doesn’t affect me in any major way.

I slugged through many books that I really didn’t like or enjoyed just because they were books that I should read to grow as a reader and writer. I can appreciate the works for what they are (I have no doubt that Joyce is a brilliant writer) but these books were not for me. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine. As a lover of literature, it’s okay not to like every writer in the literary cannon. 

What I’m saying here is find writers, books, and genres that you want to read. You’ll waste a lot of your time on books people tell you to read. Read books you want to read.  To all those English majors out there, you don’t have to like everything. You don’t have to be inspired by everything. You don’t have to read everything. You can appreciate all literature but you don’t have to like it all. Liking all literature is like a musician liking every genre of music. A filmmaker loving every movie made. An architect every building ever built.

There are times in our academic careers where we will have to slug through books we don’t like. But recognizing you don’t like something only pushes you to find what you do like. If you don’t like a book or writer, find someone that you do like. Find a writer that inspires you, no matter if the literary community acclaims them or condemns them. I gave up on my list of “must-reads” a long time ago now and only read books that I enjoy. I’ve found that I love American Literature. Kurt Vonnegut is a personal obsession while the Beat generation owns my heart.

The point of this post is overly simple but I think is forgotten by a lot of literature lovers.  It perfectly fine and even admirable to admit you don’t like Joyce or Shakespeare or Austen or Conrad, as long as you can say what you do like.

So read what you want to read. Don’t let someone dictate to you what you should read. Find the most obscure author that you can find and say you like him/her more than anyone else in the literary cannon. Piss off the pretentious fellows with their copies of Chaucer and tell them with defiance you like Harry Potter more than any other book.  Read what you want to read. Love what you love. And don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.