I believe I mentioned the other day that I participate in a book group on Goodreads, a social networking site based around, you guessed it-- books. This particular book group, rather than assigning a "book of the month" that all members must read, operates on a series of seasonal challenges, where readers pick books of their choosing within certain categories or parameters. Different tasks earn different amounts of points, as do other factors like page length or publication date (these are known as "style points.")
The new season is coming up June 1st, and the challenges, as well as some of the style categories, have changed. This is not a surprise, it occurs every three months. Nevertheless, there's been some backlash. In discussion of the changes, one of the irate participants stated emphatically that she had only been pushing her reading boundaries and writing reviews "to get points." This made me more than a little sad. Reading just for points? But it also made me think about the many reasons for reading. I suppose they are a little different for everyone. I use the reading group challenges to help me decide what to read next. When you have the kind of stacks of books-to-be-read that I do, it can get a bit overwhelming! I enjoy the sense of community in the book group, and I like exploring new types of books I may not have considered before. But ultimately, if I want to read something that doesn't fit within any of a season's parameters, I'm going to go ahead and do it. And that's ok. Because this is why I read:
I read for enjoyment. Every book has something to offer, whether it's a discourse on philosophy, a lesson from the past, a heart-pounding action scene, or a laugh-out-loud moment. There are classics that are overrated, and mass-market paperbacks with really great parts, so I don't feel bad about reading a history book followed by a novel followed by a science book. As William Faulkner said, “Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it."
I read to "get away." Rather than let my mind go to screensaver mode, I would much prefer to jump into a story. I fill a lot of otherwise vacant space with audiobook reading... driving time, doing chores, going for walks, etc. There are very few things on television that compel me to pick up a remote. In the immortal words of Groucho Marx, “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
I read because I am interested. It seems every website one uses nowadays has a section where it asks for "interests." I hate that section. Likewise, I hate being asked my favorite genre of books or music. My answer is inevitably too long, or I don't answer at all. I am interested in a little of everything, and I like to read a little of everything. My very top shelf of favorites includes a book from 1930 and a book from 2011; Russian books and German books; comedy books and war books; true crime and classics.
I read to learn. If someone asks me to take on a task, research an issue, or work towards a goal, my first impulse is either to run to the library or Barnes and Noble. I guess that gives me away as an artifact of the pre-Wikipedia age, when school papers had to have printed sources listed on their bibliographies. A good non-fiction work can be just as engaging as a novel.
I read because I care. There's no substitute for life experience, but when it comes to understanding and empathizing with others, reading can be a pretty close second. A book can let you see things from someone's perspective that you might never see otherwise, and lets you experience things you may never have a chance to do. You yourself may never fight in a war, intervene in an emergency, or live in a country where half of the population is not allowed to read. But you can try to learn from and understand those who have.
I read because I like to write. Stephen King put it concisely: "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."
Conversely, I often write because I read. For me, it's a no-brainer. I invest a lot of time in reading. And, like exercise or therapy, reading is an endeavor where "you get out what you put in." The last thing I want to do is read 500 pages only to let the story drift away into the realm of the forgotten. Whether it's an essay for a class, an entry in a diary, or an online review, writing about a book you've read is an extension of the reading process. Unless a book is complete offal, it should leave you with some questions. What did I spend the last X number of hours/days/weeks/months doing? What did I like or dislike about the writing? What scenes or lines of dialogue resonated with me? Would I want to meet any of the characters in real life? By ignoring those questions and moving industriously on to the next task at hand, I believe you are cheating yourself.
So what's the point of all this? Mostly, I hope that this post got you thinking about your own reasons for reading. I hope that you make time for yourself to escape to new places, meet new people, learn something new. I hope you come across passages that stick with you, so that you can't wait to thrust a copy of the book into a friend's hand and pass it along. I hope you will finish a book and give yourself time to process it, whether it's by writing in a journal or discussing it with a loved one over coffee. (or brandy? ...warm milk? ...Ovaltine?)
Tell me... why do you read?
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