Corey's Reading Profile
The Way I Read
Hello everyone! My name is Corey, and I'm excited to go on this reading journey with you all!
Like most of you, I'm sure, reading is a lifestyle for me and part of my identity. However, I can't say that I'm as voracious a reader in terms of volume as others might be. I have some troubles sitting and reading for long stretches at a time. I used to be able to, but it's rare now that I can sit and read for more than an hour at a time. I'll often have about 3 different books started at once, jumping in and out and back and forth between them all whenever my focus on any particular one exhausts. It slows my progress in each story significantly. I'd say I probably read about 10 books per year on average right now, either written prose or comics and manga. Absolute rookie numbers. I'm trying to find the ways that work for me to focus and read more again.
I enjoy audiobooks to be able to take in book stories in a form I can have playing in the background, but I'm trying to find my ways to be able to focus on holding a paper book and just reading again. I'm probably romanticizing, but there's something in the experience and the ritual of words on a page. Going back and forth with the eye over a passage that resonates in the mind or needs extra review to understand, the clunk of shutting a hardcover, the pace of physically turning the page. Consider for a moment, that a lot of Junji Ito's (Japanese horror manga creator) scares are so impactful specifically because the most grotesque, heart-stopping, horrific drawing is revealed by a page turn. The emotion relies on the physical form to deliver its punch. It's exactly like a physical manifestation of a punchline. There's suspense and a build up of tension, a physical reaction of fear in me, an apprehension to turn that page and witness what's on the other side. I think that's so freaking cool that a book can do that!
I am fascinated with stories, and storycraft. What I love most about reading is the emotions that a story, fiction or non, can make me feel. I love breaking down why the words made me feel that way, the techniques the author used, the formative elements and the ethos. I like studying how different forms of stories like books, movies, games, even weathering and markings on an object in an antique store, all communicate the lives lived within and how they make me experience them. I am real susceptible to "post book depression," that kind of bittersweet coming down I'm sure a lot of you can sympathize with after having to say goodbye to the characters that have lived in your head for the length of the novel, even in the times you've put the book down. I'm currently experiencing that after finishing Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches series (despite me not particularly enjoying 2 out of the 3 novels).
Horror novels and comics have been my obsession lately as a whole, and as such here's a few that I've enjoyed from the past few months!
Lives of the Mayfair Witches series (The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos) by Anne Rice- My first foray into Anne Rice's writing. Most people are probably more familiar with her Vampire Chronicles series, which I haven't jumped into yet. New Orleans is one of my favorite places, and the series drips with that heavy, dark swampy atmosphere. Plenty of disturbing body horror, specifically childbearing body horror, that makes my very cis male self deeply uncomfortable. The way Alien and the xenomorphs get under my skin.
The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu- A 70s horror manga series, involving a grade school full of children being transported mysteriously to a hellish post-apocalyptic future. After reading so much Ito I was curious to look into the creators that inspired him, and found this deeply unsettling work. The depth in frame that these manga creators can achieve in just black and white rendering is astounding.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones- A haunting ghost story, of nature and tradition catching up to the modern day, but not without some sweetness in its slice-of-life moments. Jones is himself a member of the Blackfeet Nation, and that experience informs the entire story, supernatural elements or otherwise.
The Fisherman by John Langan- Ever since my elementary school library showed the 1988 Rabbit Ears version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the one with the still paintings pan-and-scanned to simulate motion, narrated by Glenn Close. Highly recommend on a cold, autumn night if you can find it) every Halloween, I have deeply loved the atmosphere of New England horror and ghost stories. This one involves the titular fisherman, and the horrors of loss and grief, lost in the mind as well as the wilderness. Unfortunately this one became a victim of my unfocused reading style, and I never ended up finishing it.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski - This one blew up as an internet meme awhile ago coming out of COVID, with the spike in popularity of liminal space art online. An absolutely gorgeous and transcendent novel, whose postmodern-inspired construction is just as labyrinthine as the titular house. I was surprised how many visual storytelling elements I could recognize, similar to how a graphic novel would use them. Many, including the author, will maintain that the novel isn't a horror story, but a love story. That underlying love story indeed shook me to my core, more so than the actual mysterious house on Ash Tree Lane ever did.
Hi Corey! I'm with you, having an actual physical book to hold is preferred. I cannot read more than one book at once, because sometimes I'll confuse the characters or forget something vital. Props to you for being able to do that and keep the stories straight! In order to find more time to read, I would suggest carrying the book with you. So, if you get stopped by a train, you can read. If you're at the doctor, you can read in the waiting room. .... Good luck! :)
ReplyDeleteRight now I've got 3 books in my backpack that I carry with me everywhere. My hurdle is trying to put the phone down and replace it with the books I'm carrying! Gotta break myself out of the scrolling cycle!
DeleteHi Corey! Do you have any tips for someone reading House of Leaves? I have the book, but my first attempt didn't go well. I like to attempt it again when I can absorb the book.
ReplyDeleteHello Brenda!
DeleteI definitely don't blame you if the writing style of the book put you off. I ended up putting the book down for a few weeks about halfway through. The pseudo-scholastic writing can be horrifically dry and boring, meandering into detail and annotations that make no sense and offer no substance. Johnny Truant is as off-putting as narrators go. If you sense your eyes skimming over lines and lines of word salad, or flipping back and forth between pages you've kept your finger in to review references and callbacks that make no sense, or if you feel like you need to keep a memo board of all the drunken drug-addled ramblings by Johnny Truant, know that I believe that is the intended experience for that section. Absorb is a good word for it. Let yourself get absorbed in every emotion the book is making you feel. It can even be humorous just how ridiculous it can all get!
The text itself is a maze back and forth over itself, with wandering pathways to nowhere and dead-end false external references to works that don't exist. The book has at least 3 different narrators, and at least 3 different mysteries. Johnny is an unreliable narrator who openly tells you he lies and makes up stories. He tells you in the first line of the book that "this is not for you." Take that as a challenge, take that literally. I found it best to follow Johnny as the main character, more than Will Navidson in the Navidson record. As you're reading the sections of the Navidson Record, think about how Johnny is interacting with those sections. You're reading something that was physically in that character's hands. Who is leaving the annotations and notes? Whose words are we listening to? Why is Johnny telling the stories that he is in the middle of the work? What sets him off?
Ultimately I guess my advice would be to stick with it. I know that can be frustrating to hear and do (I know, my friends keep insisting I give all 1000-odd episodes of One Piece a go) but the payoff, relief, emotional gut punch, and hopeful optimism you'll get for making it out of the maze is worth it!
You have excellent writing skills! I also love how you wrote about Japanese horror manga - the power of books is amazing! And never stress about "rookie numbers." You're reading more than SO MANY other adults. You're winning! Great reading profile!
ReplyDelete