On Reading

After finishing How to Read and Why* by Harold Bloom, I remembered a conversation I was having with a friend of mine. I can't remember the topic of conversation, but I remember my friend saying that reading is something you do when you're waiting to do other things. I found this a little perplexing, and very telling. It challenged my own biases toward reading, and it made me wonder what the majority of society feels about reading.

So now, like Harold Bloom--but with way less credentials--I'm going to chime in on the discussion.

Excluding oppressive dictators, I get the feeling nobody will say "reading is bad"; certainly nobody will say it is bad for you. Even if some people don't like doing it, if they are rational creatures they will see the value. If not imaginative literature (and I include graphic novels and comic books), then reading the news can come in handy. If not that, being able to read instruction manuals and road signs can be a real boost to getting through life. Nobody who is literate will regret being literate. But I think a lot of people will read for more than just information on how to put together their jalsklär desk from IKEA. Book publishing is a multi-billion dollar industry, so I can only assume that it is a pretty popular activity. It certainly isn't the only thing, and being a text-oriented society has problems (and there is much good in oral cultures which we are in danger of losing to the monolith of the written word), but it has a lot of advantages too. Reading enjoys an almost universal, and perhaps curiously unquestioned status as a good thing.

But we seem to have a peculiar attitude about this good thing, at least when it comes to leisurely reading. Like other forms of entertainment, we find ourselves having to justify why we do it more than other things. Reading for leisure smacks of uselessness, or worse, elitism. That we call it leisurely reading shows the ambivalence we have about it; we love to do it, but it is only acceptable when it's raining out and there's nothing left to do. It's almost shameful to think of sitting at home and reading on a sunny saturday afternoon, isn't it? Or even worse, on a Friday night! The horror! Behaviour like that would just seem weird, even antisocial. The only time that would be acceptable is if it's compulsory reading, for a class. It's just not the kind of thing you do when you can do something else!

One time a friend of mine asked me why I didn't want to go to a party (or something along those lines), and I said because I felt like I needed to catch up on reading. I realise in hindsight how pretentious, rude and antisocial that must have sounded. But why is it all those things?

Some people might think it is isolating, living in an ivory tower, avoiding "life". I have to ask what they mean by "life". Why is a social gathering closer to "life" than reading? Reading is a part of life, isn't it? It engages several areas of the brain at once--the brain being a living, physical organ, an essential tool for life. In fact, it enhances that organ, and by extension, the rest of ourselves. How can that be a bad thing? The imagination is as essential to human life as our social interactions, and yet when we say "live a little", almost nobody imagines sitting in a chair and reading. So is it something we love to do but feel bad for it? It certainly seems hard to justify when you look at it: from the outside, it looks like a person is doing absolutely nothing, but staring at an object with small ink-scratchings on it. This is not profitable behaviour, so it doesn't sit well with utilitarian, economy-minded creatures.

I believe it is not only important, but deeply rewarding and enjoyable. It brings pleasure, which may put off people who think that you shouldn't get pleasure from important things. Important things are about helping other people, right? They're about productivity, thrift, hard work, and other Puritan virtues. Well, I believe the Puritans were just a little bit silly, that not all selfishness is intrinsically bad, and that we nourish ourselves with reading. We read to become more human.

This might be stretching it a bit, but it even has a meditative quality to it, as it demands a sustained amount of concentration and visualization, all in the effort to help us understand the story. Some people might dismiss this as escapism. This is inaccurate. It is an exercise in empathy as we follow somebody else's life, and understand them a little better. A story offers a blueprint to better understanding each other; so if empathy is escapism, then escapism must be the noblest thing you can do! It takes us outside of ourselves and puts us in the Other. Central to the practice of Rabbinic Judaism is the act of reading. Rabbis will read--live and breathe the literature of their faith, absorb it as fully as they can, and form an exegesis, an understanding of their text-- and will encounter wisdom. That is why they read. Sure, reading won't change the world, but it may lead to self-understanding, which will help you become a better you.

And yet, reading is still seen as something we should only do when we're waiting to do something else.

I use "we" a lot in this entry, because I believe I'm not alone in what I'm thinking. I love reading, yet I often feel guilty, or at least uneasy, for doing it. Surely this feeling is instilled in me from standards of the outside, which means it's happening to other people as well. This must mean it is a widespread problem. This is comforting in a way, but it also means that it's something we should all be addressing.

I want to challenge this problem, and encourage others to make time in their day to read. I'm not saying it's the only thing worth doing, or even the most important (and I'm certainly not entering into the argument of Books vs. Video Games, or Books vs. Movies). There's a danger to fetishizing it, of course. But there's a danger to putting too much emphasis on a social life, too. Balance, as usual, is key. But do take some time.

I have no set reading list or canon, personally. I was raised on comic books, so I try to resist bias towards one genre or another. I include comics, graphic novels, blogs and magazines, childrens books, etc. It doesn't have to be Cervantes or Tolstoy, as long as it means something to you. But I also encourage you to read what challenges you, what inspires you, what haunts you. If nothing else, read because it's fun, and fun is bloody important.


Thanks for reading!

Liam



*It's not as pretentious as it sounds, and although it doesn't completely deliver, it's still a good, challenging read.