Why do we read novels?

The Psychology of the Novel has a fascinating way of looking at how authors write their novels, how readers read, and what really makes a good book. Although I have thought about many of the author's ideas, there are quite a few new ones that hadn't occurred to me. According to the author, there are many different elements that make a story interesting. The narration of a novel creates a relationship with the reader. I find it interesting that the author creates an analogy by comparing a novel to a friend. It often seems that way to me. Not that I actually talk to it, or anything, but a good novel is one that you feel understands who you are and what you believe. It's comforting. The author says that a "novel is the only imaginative form that must have both action and point of view, suspense and reflection. In this it seems to mimic the way life feels". I guess that's why I like novels too. It is like life, but not.


One thing I didn't understand was when the author said "the world is full of people who are rather proud they don't read novels". What the author says afterwards, about"enlarging a reader's willingness to suspend disbelief" is very true. Reading is about your imagination, about walking (or more accurately, reading) down a path of thought that you have not taken before. About learning something new. About living a different life and learning from others' mistakes. About expanding your imagination, understanding others, and more importantly, understanding yourself! How can people be proud to not read about other opinions, stories, about failing to learn?! It is incomprehensible! Anyone who does not love reading is either in denial or has just not read the right book yet. Books... are books. There is no other word to describe them.


There was one concept that I found intriguing about the first line of a book and what it does to the reader. The author says that it creates the atmosphere and prepares you for the story, so you know where it will lead and accept the rules of imagination. I read the first line of a few books I had lying around the house, and the author's concept applies. Although the first line also tries and hooks you with a weird sort of thing that makes you want to find out what on earth the author is talking about, it also tells the reader about the style of the author, and what to look forward to further down the novel. For instance, comparing the introductions to Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson, one can tell the books are for different audiences and with different styles. The former novel begins with "My father's name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip" (Dickens, 6). From this sentence we can deduce it is from the first person point of view about a child, and the style of the author is rather a more educated way of writing than the novel by Eva Ibbotson. A children's writer, this is obvious from her first sentence, "Ellie had gone into the church because of her feet" (Ibbotson, 6). One should really pay attention more to the first sentence of a book.


As I was reading about suspense and how at times it is better to slow down reading then scouring through it, a thought occurred to me. The speed of reading, for me, changes. A book may be read better and more understandable if read slower or faster, but I think the speed can be determined by the author. I have read many books, and the speed that I read at changes with each book and at different times. My reading changes because the writing from the author changes. As suspense increases, the author writes in a style that makes me read faster and quicker- but if I need to pay attention to details, the author writes more details, and the words make me read slower and pay more attention. A good author should be able to control what the reader looks at and what the reader notices.

One thing the author also says about novels is that they incorporate different aspects that people read. Some read for intellectual reasons, some for adventure, some just for a simple story- the list goes on. However, I think that the books that one rereads are the ones that contain multiple of these aspects. The author late says that good books "work perfectly at lower levels of play... even though there is more to be discovered as the reader grows more sophisticated". This is why some books are better to read than others. For instance, I have read Ender's Game I don't know how many times. I like this book because it has a good plot but also makes someone think about bigger things too. I understand Ender, as well as many other characters, and a very interesting and absorbing storyline. However, there are different parts of the book that contain different intellectual, suspenseful, and thoughtful elements, and so sometimes I can just open to a certain part of the book depending on what mood I am in.

There are so many things in a book that determine whether it is a good fit for a reader. Lots of things. The Psychology of a Novel points out many of these components. However, I think that the most important thing that the author has mentioned about a good book is that a novel is your friend. Reading a novel is a relationship: if you don't like the book, you don't "hang out" with it anymore. And if you love it, because it understands your thoughts and emotions, then it's your friend. You read it more than once. You feel what the author writes, and you live the author's story. And it remains a memory.

Books are books.