The quotes in this entry are from an article titled “Books? What’re Those?” from the blog of xTiffanyx located at the Progressive U website on 2/28/07.
“Do we read to learn anymore? Or do we read to entertain ourselves?” These questions make me think about my own reasons for reading. Do I read merely to be entertained? When I read, am I really just seeking knowledge? I want to say that I read for both, but I don’t believe that is true. I sometimes read more challenging books, but usually I read whatever strikes my fancy. I view reading as a form of entertainment far more involving than TV or even video games. I don’t pick up a book because I think it will increase my vocabulary or because I want to learn specific life lessons. I pick up a book because I wish to be immersed in a different world. One that I can enjoy without the worries that infect our quotidian lives. I do learn from the books I read, but that is merely a beneficial side effect.
In this article I found, the author observes that not many people read to expand their knowledge anymore. She says:
Read for entertainment, but also read to learn. Reading should be intellectually stimulating. We focus so much on the importance of working out our bodies in our spare time that we lose focus on working out our minds.
I agree with most of this statement, but I think there is a key difference. I believe that people are working out their minds these days. She is right that classics can be a good workout; I would equate it to lifting weights. But reading all sorts of books for enjoyment and gaining knowledge on the way is playing a sport that you love and getting in shape while doing so. I find the latter options to be much more enjoyable.
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Jeez. Being an English Major is hard. When I told my mother I had chosen English as my focus she had kind of gave me a look like “YOU WHAT?!” I told her I loved to read, not only the classics, but also a lot of literature for my pure enjoyment. And I especially wanted to focus on English in the elementary classroom-I want to see that light bulb go off when a child learns how to connect letters into words and words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs which in turn become a great piece of writing! But I didn’t know what I was getting myself into! I have read more stuff for one English class than I had for 2 or 3 of my non-major classes! I was reading more than 3-6 books at once and sometimes had to read close to 300 pages in one night!
This is why I choose to read for entertainment purposes only in the summer. I have to work my butt off during the school year on literature for learning purposes and am therefore completely sick of it by the time April comes around.
And who says a piece of literature that is solely for entertainment will not work my mind? There are books out there that will boggle your mind—the only thing is, is that you need to search for and seek out those books.
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