Response on "How Should One Read a Book?" by Virginia Woolf

As I started typing this response , one sentence from the short story reiterates in my mind. Woolf says, "But if the open air and adventure mean everything to Defoe they mean nothing to Jane Austen (page 3)." Then, I start to ponder on the fact that until I read this article I was so quick to judge a book by its cover. I'd never walk away from the types of books I was already comfortable with. If the authors did not share a similiar background with books I had already encountered, then I was not reading the book. After seeing the quote from Woolf, I pictured Defoe sitting in a room writing a novel and Austen in another. Both from two very different worlds. That's when it dawned on me that there was no way I could compare books to books when I hadn't even given the author the chance. I didn't have to fall in love with the book and I didn't have to completely hate it, but I could at least tolerate it. She later says, "But as time goes on perhaps we can train our taste; perhaps we can make it submit to some control (page 11)." After realizing this readers can open their hearts to explore journeys that they would otherwise choose to miss.