Whenever I discover a new author, it always starts so well. An enticing cover image, a seductive first line, some flirtatious opening pages. Before I know where I am, he's found his way into my bed and is keeping me awake late into the night. But as with any relationship, it isn't long before questions of commitment crop up. As someone with a frankly promiscuous attitude towards writers (I'll try anyone once), I always find myself asking the same question: am I really expected to read everything they've written?
To do so is, of course, the only real way to understand a writer fully. The thread of biography, however fine it may be, is chronological and cannot be broken up or examined in part. A novel takes a long time to write and inevitably absorbs a significant part of the writer's life and identity. What reader wouldn't want that kind of comprehensive insight?
One fundamental problem remains - and not just laziness (although to be honest, that's part of it). The truth is that bad novels sometimes happen to good novelists. Absolute consistency is the hallmark of very few writers, particularly the more prolific ones. Must we, as readers, suffer bad prose for the sake of loyalty?
In the past this decision was, to a certain extent, made for us by the unavailability of such blots on a writer's career. If a book by a good author is out of print, you can assume - fairly safely - that it probably wasn't worth reading in the first place. But now the dilemma has been put back into our hands by the likes of Amazon Marketplace and AbeBooks. With second-hand book-buying now easier than ever, there's no longer any excuse to shortcut your way through an author's backlist.
The moment we mention excuses, we should just give up and move on. Unless you are an academic or a masochist (or as is perhaps more common, both), reading shouldn't be a matter of forcing oneself to finish a book. I read because I like it; and if the name on the cover ceases to impress me, dumping is in order. Novels are there to be enjoyed. If it's not working, all you can do is start seeing other people.
