Read it as if it were True
A Reading Tip for Books You Don't Want to Read
In April 2021, I set out to read the full Lord of the Rings series for the first time in my life. I had read The Hobbit as a child and had started book 1 of the Lord of the Ring trilogy over the years, but had not made it past that. I had a strong dislike of fantasy holding me back. I thought they were silly and written for children.
Furthermore, I liked books where knowledge built upon knowledge, where a book about Winston Churchill would help my understanding of other books about World War II. Works of fantasy were usually self-contained worlds with characters, times, and places that would not help me in other reading. Why spend so much time in fantasy land?
I set aside 2021 to read through series of books like Harry Potter, The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson, and the Chronicles of Narnia. I knew it was also time to bite the bullet and read The Hobbit and the three books of The Lord of the Rings.
So, on April 7, 2021, I started reading The Hobbit. I used a paperback version I had purchased at Waterstones Bookstore in Oxford, England on August 15, 2000 (I had been planning to re-read this for a while). I read through the 365 pages and did not like it. I really wanted to like it but I just didn’t. I was now dreading the thought of having to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I shared this concern online and a friend wrote back and told me to read the series as if it were true. That sounded like strange advice since the subject matter was hobbits, orcs, and Mordor. How would I read something clearly in the fantasy realm as if it were true?
I gave it a try. I began taking earnest notes as I started in on The Fellowship of the Ring. I pulled out the huge foldout map in the back and would place it in front of me as I read. I considered the places on the map to be real, to exist. I began treating the characters as real creatures and the locations and situations as real. Any time the voice in my head told me this all was silly, I would silence it.
That simple shift in approach ended up changing everything. I became entranced with The Lord of the Rings series and ended up completing all of it in under a month. This was a huge epiphany for me. I had trouble with any kind of work of fantasy or science fiction, whether in a book or a movie. Perhaps this shift could allow me to enjoy other works.
My friend had hit the nail right on the head. The reason I was having trouble with these works of fantasy was because I thought they were silly. In doing so, I degraded the works. I thought I was above them. I would not listen to what they had to say.
It turns out that tales, whether fiction or non-fiction, contain snippets of truth. And sometimes, a story that takes us out of our natural habitat can actually speak with more clarity than a story that takes place in a world similar to our own. I had been cutting off this realm because I considered it childish.
I now use this technique, to read it as if it were true, for any other books I don’t particularly like. Doing that adds a gravitas to the book. It ups the ante. Next time you consider a book to be silly or untrue, try reading it as if it were true.
“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again…”
~ C.S. Lewis in the intro to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a dedication to his goddaughter Lucy
My father always says: "Listen to the madman and the wise old man equally, they both have a truth to tell"
Interestingly, Tolkien and Lewis themselves wrote LotR, Chronicles of Narnia, and The Ransom Trilogy as if they were real parts of the world. LotR is the third age of middle earth, and to Tolkien, we are currently in the 6th age. It is supposed to be a work of ancient history that he found and translated.