In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose"
The decalogue was created by Daniel Pennac, a best-selling French writer; you can find
it in his book "Comme un Roman" (translated with the title "Better than life"), a
wonderful essay about the joy of reading. The book is dedicated to
"Those few adults who gave me the gift of reading let their books speak and never once
asked if I had understood. Naturally, I went to them when I wanted to talk..."
These are the ten fundamental rights of every reader, everywhere:
- The right to not read
- The right to skip pages
- The right not to finish
- The right to reread
- The right to read anything
- The right to escapism
- The right to read anywhere
- The right to browse
- The right to read out loud
- The right to not defend your tastes
I wholly agree with items 4 to 7; I exercise the "right not to finish" as sparingly
as possible, and only when the book has no redeeming qualities. I'd like to replace item
9 with the right to laugh out lout when you've read something funny, even if it's a
crowded place and everyone looks at you as if you have suddenly gone mad.