Self accused of ‘book bragging’ after claiming to read 50 at a time
WHILE some readers love to pore over their books others zip through the pages, often having two or three novels on the go at a time.
The author Will Self, however, has been accused of “book bragging” by fellow writers after claiming he reads 50 books at a time.
The 56-year-old said: “Before I read digitally, I’d be reading perhaps 10 books simultaneously – but now I read as many as 50 at once, if you mean by ‘currently reading’ books I’ve begun, left off, and returned to.”
His remarks have been met with derision by authors who have accused him of being disrespectful to the written word.
Dr Fern Riddell, historian and author tweeted: “I hate this, I hate book bragging, it is disrespectful to the books. Give the story your full attention.”
Asked what he was currently reading Self told The Guardian: “So, I’m reading everything from Michel Houellebecq’s Submission to Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals and back again via Mary Beard’s polemical Women & Power.”
Even Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, waded into the argument, writing on Twitter: “I love reading – but I’d gently suggest that anyone who claims to be reading 50 books at the same time isn’t really reading any of them at all.” Deborah Orr, Self’s columnist ex-wife, joined the chorus of disapproval, joking “I read as many as 50 tweets at once”, and agreeing that Self ’s claim was “Trumpian”.
Orr also harked back to a previous claim made by her former husband in 2014, when he said that the novel was dead.
Self, who has written 12 novels and won a clutch of literary awards, has often made explosive claims about reading, once saying the time of serious fiction was over. He argued that it would become a “specialist, minority interest” and that regular people would stop reading difficult books.
He said in 2014: “The literary novel as an art work and a narrative art form central to our culture is indeed dying before our eyes.”
During The Guardian interview Self also claimed the Harry Potter series of books by JK Rowling was a cause of illiteracy in children.
He said: “The books ushered in the dumb kidult era we’re currently having to endure, with illiteracy rates significantly on the rise for the first time in a century!”
Paddy Johnston accused Self of “trolling”, and tweeted: “Classic Will Self here, claiming that Harry Potter getting reluctant readers into books is a bad thing and has actually cause illiteracy to go up. 10/10 troll.”