Preferential Treatment
Books have always had it bad.
The proverbial forewarning on jumping to conclusions? “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Want to pick out a book without regard for the cover? We immediately filter by author or genre. We might be so lucky as to have a recommendation from an actual friend. We might draw from published reviews or use what algorithms and also-bots suggest,
Narrowing your choices based on the above, you might read the “see inside” sneak peek pages, sometimes as much as 10% of a work, and then say, “ah, nah, not for me.” Or, you select a book from Kindle Unlimited and read a third of it, then shrug and toss it off, unfinished, in mid-journey.
An unread book is a lonely book.
Parallels in film exist, right down to trailers/previews, streaming services, etc…
However, I seldom don’t finish a movie once I start it. That just seems wrong. It just seems easier to ride it out, eat more snacks, hope for a satisfying ending. All of that’’s easier than admitting I chose poorly and that I need to reach for the remote. It’s a colossal blunder to go out to a movie, investing all the time, fuel, money—then walk out of the theatre.
Our tolerance seems different for film. Maybe because it’s less work to watch a movie than to read a book. Maybe it’s because a movie is on, then it’s over, where a book lasts longer both in consumption and (at least for me) lingering effect.
I know it would be tragic if we made decisions about people like we do about books. If we only associated with people who looked right to us, who others recommended, who impressed us right out of the gate…I doubt I’d have many friends. If someone had an off chapter in their lives, a slow spot, a dry socket, and we just sidelined them, not giving them the benefit of the doubt…ouch.
I know this is going to seem peculiar to some, but I think we should think of encounters with books as relationships. We should regard them all as individuals with their own self worth and not be so quick to judge.
