Marathon for a Reader

Sar

a Nelson is the consummate publishing insider. She has covered books as editor, reviewer, reporter and columnist for such media outlets as Glamour, the New York Times, Self, the Wall Street Journal, Oxygen and the New York Observer. Nelson set out on a mission to read 52 books in 52 weeks and write about her experience. The result is So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading (Putnam; 242 pages). TIME spoke with Nelson:

How did your family feel about your project?

I don't think they got it at first. I'm not sure I really got it at first. I always knew that this would not be 52 book reviews, that it would not be me impersonating Harold Bloom, telling people what they should read or what the great books are, the canon. I always knew that it would be more personal than that. I didn't know quite how personal it was going to be as I started. It got more personal as it went along.

You write about preferring fiction. Do you suspect that most women feel the same way?

I would imagine so. For very educated people, there's still a little whiff of disapproval of fiction. If I say I'm staying home and reading a biography of William Randolph Hearst, you would think I was one kind of person. If I said I was staying home reading Heartburn by Nora Ephron, you would think I was another kind of person. I think that's where the chick-lit moniker comes from, which I find a bit offensive.

Everyone is so busy these days. What is your advice about finding time to read?

Never leave the house without a book — ever — even if you think you're just going to the grocery store to pick up a carton of milk or you're driving. I'm not suggesting that people should read while they're driving, but if you're stuck in a traffic jam or get a flat tire and you're waiting for someone to come and help you, there are all kinds of moments in the day that are reading moments. I actually prefer to take the bus to work rather than the subway because it's a much more pleasant experience. People say, "Oh, but it takes so long." And it does. But I use that as reading time. I don't watch a lot of TV.

Your son Charlie is 9 now. Does he like books?

He's still not a passionate reader, but now he says that he likes to read. It worried me that he wasn't much of a reader. We now set reading times, that we're going to read for half an hour now. I stay there with him, and I read my book. It's something we do together, as much as you can read together. I never thought that I was a great read-aloud parent. I wasn't patient enough. I didn't like the books enough, especially when he was little. Now we do a sort of tag team: he will read a chapter, and I'll read it too, and then we'll talk about it. We're doing it now with the Lemony Snicket books.

What's good this season?

I was anxiously looking forward to the Jhumpa Lahiri novel The Namesake because I loved Interpreter of Maladies. When I got a copy, I said, I can't wait to go home, get in bed and read it. I loved it, loved it, loved it. What I liked a lot also was A Mighty Heart, Mariane Pearl's book about Danny Pearl, which is a beautiful book. I was also very crazy about Zoe Heller's What Was She Thinking, a novel told from the point of view of the best friend of a teacher who's having an affair with her student. It's a satire about friendship, publicity, love — a great mean novel.

What's the worst book you read during the year?

So many people are going to be mad at me for this. I would have to say it was Tuesdays with Morrie. I just thought it was hokey and insincere. I didn't buy that this author had his life changed by this man.

What if you're reading a book and you don't like it?

You know what? If you don't like it, don't read it. This to me is the major rite of passage of adulthood. I was a late bloomer. I was late in my 30s before I could do it. Give something more than two pages, but if you're on page 50 and you don't like it, forcing yourself to read it will just make you get mad. Life's too short. There are too many books.