NANCY PEARL'S RULE OF 50

"If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages."

I've written about this before but was just asked about it again yesterday.  Read a more detailed explanation from back in 2011.

#ArmchairBEA Introduction

So today Armchair BEA features introductions from participating bloggers. I have gotten that far in figuring out what I am supposed to be doing! If you don't know what I'm talking about you can visit the Armchair BEA website. This absolutely fabulous idea allows those of us who can't make it to New York to be part of the publishing industries premier event.

The first task is to answer some questions so here goes.

Retired from the world of libraries, I have been blogging for five years to keep in touch with the world of books. I write about random things that appeal to me that have any loosely defined connection to reading and books.

Retirement Reward

 I am (in no particular order) a mother, grandmother, actress, singer, director, reviewer, reader, blogger, genealogist, friend, and time traveler.

My Bunny

Michael Tucker's Living in a Foreign Language (pub. 7/07) is bookmarked and sitting by my favorite chair. I recently read his first novel After Annie (pub. 3/12) and wanted to read more of his writing.

What I'm Reading Now

Sitting down to dinner with Chief Inspector Gamache at the Bistro in Three Pines would be an incredible experience. If he wasn't available, his creator Louise Penny, would be a most acceptable stand-in.

Author Louise Penny

 Recently I have found it necessary to invoke the Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50 (She's such a doll!) and expect that will occur more frequently as I get older. The saying "So many books, so little time." becomes more and more true with age.

Why I am not going to read SERENA (2008)

Recently, in a talk to a group of book lovers, I shared Nancy Pearl's approach to enjoying reading. She espouses her Rule of 50 which states "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages." Being well over 50 these days, allows me to read even fewer pages before calling it quits.

Ron Rash's new book The Cove is on reserve for me at my local library. While waiting, I thought I would read his earlier Serena. There seems to be much division of opinion on Serena. Love it or hate it. I just don't want to read it.

"The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire."

Right there things begin to fall outside my areas of interest. Rash's first novel was called 'a masterful balance of violence and beauty' and 'riveting' so don't let my lack of enthusiasm turn you away from this book. And who knows what my reaction to The Cove will be?

A Converation with Kate Atkinson (2006)

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

Nancy Pearl spoke with Kate Atkinson in 2006. I thought I wouldn't want to watch almost a half hour of conversation from that many years ago, but I was charmed! If you love Kate and have the time, I recommend sitting in.

Nancy describes Kate's work as 'intelligent' and 'humorous', with 'complex plots'. They agree to refer to her books as 'comedies of manners' although readers may think of them as 'literate mysteries'.

Book Lust with Nancy Pearl featuring Kate Atkinson 12/4/2006 29:23

Nancy Pearl's guest on this episode of Book Lust is British author Kate Atkinson. Atkinson was born in York in 1951 and studied English Literature at Dundee University. She began writing for women's magazines after winning the 1986 Woman's Own Short Story Competition. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995), won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year award, beating Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh and Roy Jenkins' biography Gladstone. Her latest books are Case Histories (2004), and One Good Turn (2006).

Nancy Pearl's Rule of Fifty

I met Nancy Pearl briefly after hearing her speak a number of years back. I even own one of her action dolls. But today was the best when my friend Kathy suggested I deserved my own action figure. Wow! The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it would have to have creaking joints and greying hair and that might not be particularly attractive.

But now I realize how much more I love Nancy Pearl. It's here rule of fifty, which adjusts to fit those of us who are aware of our limited time for reading. YOU DON'T HAVE TO FINISH EVERY BOOK YOU START.

"This rule of 50 worked exceedingly well until I entered my own 50s. As I wended my way toward 60, and beyond, I could no longer avoid the realization that, while the reading time remaining in my life was growing shorter, the world of books that I wanted to read was, if anything, growing larger. In a flash of, if I do say so myself, brilliance, I realized that my Rule of 50 was incomplete. It needed an addendum. And here it is: When you are 51 years of age or older, subtract your age from 100, and the resulting number (which, of course, gets smaller every year) is the number of pages you should read before you can guiltlessly give up on a book. As the saying goes, “Age has its privileges.”

And the ultimate privilege of age, of course, is that when you turn 100, you are authorized (by the Rule of 50) to judge a book by its cover."

Read the whole article at THE GLOBE AND MAIL site.

Thanks for this, Kathy. The first Ann Holt action doll will be yours.