The Sunday Salon: Why I Read. And You?
I suppose it depends on what types of books you read, but since I read novels, mostly I read to live a life other than my own for a while. I read to get away, to dream of somewhere far away, or to understand where someone is coming from better. I love international fiction because I can travel somewhere I have never been, or walk the streets in a well known village 8,000 miles away. I am teleported through reading to a dream or a nightmare, depending on the book. I can live an exciting night, even though I don't have a million dollars for travel fees and a babysitter that night!!
I guess movies could be the same thing, but they really aren't, for me at least. Because they don't allow me to take my time, I am on their schedule and just working on keeping up most of the time with what is being said and the images that flash on screen. In reading, I live longer in the places I want to and skip-run-jump through those that freak me out. I like reading.
I have recently been transported to China while reading The Kitchen God's Wife (Amy Tan), to a Russian threatened Afghanistan in The Photographer (graphic novel), and through racial and spacial bounds in Zimbabwe in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. Where have you been lately? Have your travels taken you pleasant places or nightmareish-ones? Do you read for the same reasons as me or different reasons?
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August 16th, 2009 - 10:04
I feel the same way, and I think that’s why I like science fiction so much – I can get away to a place I haven’t been before (and the fact that the place is imaginary makes it even more fun to me).
August 16th, 2009 - 10:28
I totally agree! I not only read to escape to different places and cultures, but to also be introduced to different people that I may never come in contact otherwise. I read to learn more about human nature and how to relate to one another.
I much prefer books to movies because I like to be in control :) I like to imagine the scene in my own way, not in the way that the director chooses to interpret. I like the physical activity of reading: focusing on the beauty of the words and how they work together to create an escapism experience.
August 16th, 2009 - 11:05
Reading for me, a lot of times, is a learning experience. Like you I read a variety of books from different countries and cultures and different walks of life. I love being transported to something so unfamiliar to me but at the same time I can usually find something to relate to within the books (some piece of humanity). Sometimes I’ll get this with a movie, but like you said it is a timing issue. I can curl up with a book for a week and the movie is done and gone in two hours. Books usually have a greater emotional impact on me as well, especially if I get to know the characters well.
August 16th, 2009 - 13:59
I like to read cookbooks and craft books and imagine that I am the type of woman who has the energy to cook fabulous meals and knit sweaters for her kids :-).
August 16th, 2009 - 16:07
Hi Bethany!
I feel the same way–I love to be absorbed in a great story and the 3 you mentioned are all great! I don’t comment much, but I love your posts! Just wanted you to know!
August 16th, 2009 - 17:07
I read because I have to. It seems crazy but reading is my life. I eat, breathe, and sleep reading. Everything I do, say, and watch – reminds me of a book I read or want to read. Ask my daughter. She says “mom, everything is not a book!”, I say “one day it will be!” It fills me with a sense of wonder, of power, of joy, or sadness. For however long it takes to finish, and sometimes later, I’m living that book.
August 22nd, 2009 - 20:13
Yep, you’ve said it!! I read to get away, to learn, to experience those places that I cannot . . . really I could go on and on, but what it comes down to in the end is that it truly relaxes me and clears my head, keeping me grounded in real life!! Does that make me sound like a complete nerd or what?!?! :)
August 30th, 2009 - 04:29
You read for the same reason I do… to be someone, somewhere, something else… not that my life is not worth living as it is; but, I seek other ways of living through books… wI can become anything I want, travel to far away lands, be brave and meet challenges I may never meet in my daily life. I also read about fictional people I would love to meet and others that I would never want to encounter. I am made aware of the horrible things done to people all over this world and I am touched and compassionate enough to understand the injustices. Thanks