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I think this will be a rather short post. It is about a revelation I have had regarding reading fiction.
So I have been AFK for quite a while. I tend to bounce around hobbies. Always finding new ones and new rabbit holes to go down. Well, my most recent venture has been reading fiction. You see, I grew up hating to read. Long chapters dragged on and on. I would always ask myself, "How many pages do I have left?".
Well, I had a few friends recommend reading Dune because it's awesome, and well, the movie is coming out soon, so why not? Dune was great, and it started this new found joy of reading fiction. My wife and I decided to get a bunch of books and I've already finished four. To avoid spoilers, all I'll say there is one pretty large book we bought that according to reddit (and conversations with my wife, who just finished it tonight) has a pretty underwhelming ending despite the buildup of the book. What a shame! Right?
I think American culture is obsessed with the ending of things (or at least I am). I mean, the ending is when the hero comes, everything ties to together, or there is some mind-blowing plot twist. The whole time I read my brain keeps piecing all the new info together to figure out what's going to happen in the end. Then, as I approach the last 50 pages, the excitement of finishing the book is so high that I kind of blaze through the ending and am left feeling underwhelmed.
Tonight, I have had the realization that probably everyone else had in middle school: As cliche as it is, reading is about the journey and not the destination.
This is similar to the apprpach of watching a Studio Ghibli movie, like Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro. You are simply dropped into the lives of others as an observer. Don't rush, just enjoy it as it comes.