A book is a secret that takes effort to share. It is both the work and the reward, and that's why I enjoy it. Not only to interact and to imagine, but when I'm done to be able to say "I did this, I finished this. Here's the proof."
I agree with Tom Piazza when he says that a computer screen neutralizes information. It's easier than falling asleep to put your ideas out on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog. For instance, this blog only took about 5 minutes to set up, and now I can share my feelings with anyone in the world. It's not a large accomplishment. But if my ideas were good enough to be published outside of cyberspace and a physical representation of my work was mass produced, that might be the ultimate form of validation. Although electronic books have still been just as painstakingly worked on as any physical version, it is their place on the screen alongside cat videos and inane tweets about the weather that cheapens the reading experience.
The novel-- the paper, breathing, "actually dying" novel-- is the vessel taken seriously.
And it encompasses the life of a story better than any other medium. Can you make margin notes on an oration? Does rereading a story again and again on your Kindle wear down the spine? Books are the things we make love to before we know what love is, and I want proof, evidence more than some electromagnetic waves in the air, that I have loved.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Why I Read
There are, to me, two kinds of books. Those that connect you to the world outside of yourself and those that you relate to inwardly. Many times a book does both.
In a world of information, where every fact and figure is at my fingertips, I turn to non-fiction books for depth, for purposeful learning. When I pick up a biography, or a historical account of some event that I'm interested in, I do it to retain the information. Reading a book isn't skimming a Wikipedia page. Reading a book is thinking, growing, letting it settle in your stomach and change you. Reading a book to learn makes me feel powerful. "In a world of ignorance," my mom once told me, writing her library list, "knowledge is my respite." Every time I read, whether it be the daily paper reporting the primary winners or a 500 page collection of the nurses from World War 2, I imagine myself chipping away at my ignorance, at my immaturity, my prejudices. Fiction as well helps show new worlds, transporting me into times, places, and situations I would never be in otherwise. In this way books can be both an escape and a facing of the harsh realities of the human narrative.
But the most incredible thing about books isn't that I can learn about experiences and places that I will never have or see. The most incredible thing is that sometimes, I learn about myself. Often in novels, and poetry especially, there will be a character, or a feeling-- some deep, twisted emotion that you've never been able to articulate-- that's brought to light through the deftness of an author's language. As Henry says in The History Boys:
"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."
And that moment, that clarity in which you realize that you are not alone, that's why I read.
In a world of information, where every fact and figure is at my fingertips, I turn to non-fiction books for depth, for purposeful learning. When I pick up a biography, or a historical account of some event that I'm interested in, I do it to retain the information. Reading a book isn't skimming a Wikipedia page. Reading a book is thinking, growing, letting it settle in your stomach and change you. Reading a book to learn makes me feel powerful. "In a world of ignorance," my mom once told me, writing her library list, "knowledge is my respite." Every time I read, whether it be the daily paper reporting the primary winners or a 500 page collection of the nurses from World War 2, I imagine myself chipping away at my ignorance, at my immaturity, my prejudices. Fiction as well helps show new worlds, transporting me into times, places, and situations I would never be in otherwise. In this way books can be both an escape and a facing of the harsh realities of the human narrative.
But the most incredible thing about books isn't that I can learn about experiences and places that I will never have or see. The most incredible thing is that sometimes, I learn about myself. Often in novels, and poetry especially, there will be a character, or a feeling-- some deep, twisted emotion that you've never been able to articulate-- that's brought to light through the deftness of an author's language. As Henry says in The History Boys:
"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."
And that moment, that clarity in which you realize that you are not alone, that's why I read.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)