I have never thought too deeply about my love of reading, only that the more I read the more I want to read.
I am only thankful that my circumstances in the lottery of life are such that my addiction is books and not crack.
I have never thought too deeply about my love of reading, only that the more I read the more I want to read.
I am only thankful that my circumstances in the lottery of life are such that my addiction is books and not crack.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
Thanks so much for vocalizing my life so well. It's nice to know I'm not alone. I often think of these feelings as nostalgia for childhood, when things seemed simpler and people gave you simple explanations about life. Maybe these feeling are about growing out of those simple childhood ideals. Perhaps, it's not about age, I didn't get here until my mid 20's, but about realizing that those childhood beliefs are too simplistic and fray at the edges and eventually collapse under the weight of conflicting views when you start seeing (and acknowledging) the world from other viewpoints.
Yes... A coworker once asked what I do in my free time. When I told her that I (among many other things) read an awful lot, she looked at me in a strange way and said: "-My, you must have a boring life..". She actually pitied me... I immediately realized that there was no way I could possibly make her understand what books has to offer me, and that I could not possibly understand her outlook. We were quite literally worlds apart, and had to accept that.
I forgot another great quote about why we read which might provide an answer to your co-worker (but then she's need to read it)
Yet who reads to bring about an end, however desirable? Are there not some pursuits that we practise because they are good in themselves, and some pleasures that are final? And is not this among them? I have sometimes dreamt, at least, that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards—their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble—the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, “Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.”
Virginia Woolf- from: "How Should One Read a Book?", The Second Common Reader
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
Yes... A coworker once asked what I do in my free time. When I told her that I (among many other things) read an awful lot, she looked at me in a strange way and said: "-My, you must have a boring life..". She actually pitied me...I immediately realized that there was no way I could possibly make her understand what books has to offer me, and that I could not possibly understand her outlook. We were quite literally worlds apart, and had to accept that.
I have had that said to me also. I told my co worker that I have a really full like, I visit a new place and make new friends everytime I start a new book and that she must have a dull life if she didn't read/She wasn't too sure how to respond to that and she never bothered me again about reading
As a student in a secondary school I must say the world of literature is very much estranged from today's education, or at least where I'm from. I see no point in the rote learning we are forced to engage in and I feel what I read of my own volition is really a breath of fresh air. So reading to me is extremely important for the survival of my creative juices and intellect.
I get that a lot too, but to each his own. I do feel irritated but if we think about it, sometimes by spending too much time on reading we are really robbing ourselves of the opportunities to just go out there and live.Originally Posted by WICKES
It really annoys me when people say that kind of thing. They have no idea how unbearably boring, petty and predictable people who never read anything of merit often seem to people who do.
Despite the snow,
Despite the falling snow.
heh, heh
I caught the reference.
It's almost as clever as your "playboy" comment. But that was genius.
*******
I think "heh heh" is an appropriate comment for the last thing I post on this forum.
For the record, I was never a "mate" or a "he."
Heh, heh.
I don't really remember Drk posting this to me, but, I am also not interested in the primary question posed by Wickes. It is like asking my brother why he took a degree in computer science and freelances in graphic design.As I discussed briefly with Jozanny on a different thread, literature is like putting puzzle-pieces together where nothing less is at stake but the possible meaning of life itself.
My concern is more about whether literacy is still a mutually exclusive concern, even if we do not have monks and rabbi's running around safe-guarding secret texts along with their Arabic colleagues. I am thinking about this because of where I live, and having gotten cursed out by an old woman down the hall while I was emptying the trash. In terms of social status I'm nothing pretty much, crap--but I used disability laws on the books to get an education at fairly expensive universities--yet I have to endure inner city social norms that are anathema to me. I am not even sure I'd want this woman who hates me for being in a wheelchair to read my work (although some of my neighbors have caught my byline and said some polite things).
Let me push this a little further--what concerns me is the education level of my audience even though I may bemoan (especially after posting with JBI and some others) the glaring gaps of my own continuing ignorance.
I think the monks and rabbi's are still riding around on donkeys, reading The New Republic, while I press my fingers on the looking glass, cursing that I am in between welfare class trash and at least able to hold my own with humanist scholars.
To simplify, for the purposes of Wickes question though, I mostly read today for Joanne the writer, for what I can steal, illuminate, imitate, and continue to learn thereby. To relax I watch tv, mostly House. Some of you can parse that as you will.
Last edited by Jozanny; 08-27-2008 at 05:58 AM. Reason: spacing
I haven't read a book until I came to uni studying literature. It is a shame to say that. In Hong Kong, we have to finish two English books a year and write a book report, but usually, I would just flip through the books' back and introduction and search for their synopsis on the internet. Can you imagine a student like that. I have no discrimation. I treat chinese book and English the same way.
The reason I start to read a decent book is because the courses require me to do so. Heart of darkness, Wuthering Height, Secret Garden, you name it, the canon . Despite my poor language foundation and ignorance about reading before, I start to enjoy reading a book. That enjoyment is like an epipthany which is unexpected.
I like the way my profosser dissect a book for us and explain alll those funny facts about the authors. The most interesting thing is to finish a book. It is like a kind of trophy and I thought those are the reasons.
It is great to share your thoughts and it is important to strike a balance. Sorry for my little history of schooling.
I read because it's away to escape to a differant place and is educational aswell as entertaining. Why do I insist on buying and keeping books that I will never read again? ~ thats a better question for me that I am unable to answer.
For the same reason I watch sport or do anything else - mindless escapism
There once was a scotsman named Drew
Who put too much wine in his stew
He felt a bit drunk
And fell off his bunk
And landed smack into his shoe ~(C) Ms Niamh Anne King
That's interesting. Why did you choose to study literature when you had never read a book?
Despite the snow,
Despite the falling snow.
Firstly, I didn't know what exactly I have chosen. I thought it is just something related to studying a foreign language which is desirable and competitive in Hong Kong. You know students do go in Art programmes when they are not sure of what to do next.
Apart from that reason, I want to know more about semantics. That means I do have some interest in linguistics. Things like what consists of a word and how one is different or related to one another , is facinated to a foreign learner.
Mindless escapism? Reading isn't mindless at all. It is the least mindless escapism there is. Watching sports though is like watching grass grow.
My mother is a fish.
Depends on how you read. I dont read to examine the techniques used or any of that stuff. I read for the story, I have no thoughts about "high" and "low" literature. I will as happily read Grisham as Dickens (shocking as the thought may be to some). I am reading to escape into another place from my life & hassles contained therein - It distracts me for a couple of hours just like watching sports, which I also thoroughly enjoy, possibly (nah scratch that probably) more than I enjoy reading
There once was a scotsman named Drew
Who put too much wine in his stew
He felt a bit drunk
And fell off his bunk
And landed smack into his shoe ~(C) Ms Niamh Anne King
Why not?
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
