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Book babble...
Sep. 21st, 2007 02:03 pmI finally finished the last His Dark Materials book and was a complete wreck. I think I finally found my answer to the "question" Dan and I were discussing last time I was town, though..."Why do people read?"
People read for a lot of reasons. He says his main reason is to learn new things, which is completely acceptable. He's been really into very postmodern books the past couple of years, mainly, and it's a "new ways to see the world as it already exists," in his words. I brought up that a lot of the reason I read the (few) fantasy books I do read is a similar reason--to see new possibilities. He used the "escapism" accusation, which was true at one point for me, but no longer is. Really, theatre was my big "escape." Books like the HDM trilogy open up new possibilities to me, and expand upon possibilities that I've considered before. In return, of course, I had to bring up how I miss how open-minded he used to be, and how much less so he's become over the years.
Anyway, today I realized what a big part of it is for me. Reading to me is a love affair of sorts, and there's nothing more amazing. As I was sitting there trying so hard not to cry my heart out in the coffeeshop, I realized the love and the passion that I get for many of the books I read, and how protective of it I am, too. Don't get me wrong, I've read plenty of books that I was perfectly fine with putting down at the end and didn't have any seemingly lingering affects on me, but then there are these books, and these are the books that I tend to push on particular friends. Once in a while I tell a friend that they have to read a book, or I will (very rarely) buy a book for a friend because I know they just have to read it. These are the books that I actively seek out to read, and a large reason why I don't read as often as I used to--I'm searching for that specific feeling. I'm desperate to devour them, heartbroken and torn to pieces when I have to set them down and leave them, and constantly thinking of them even months and years after they are over. I'm fiercely protective over them, and--as one only finds with a lover who is a piece of themselves--they enter and fill a place and understand in a way that no other person, no other book, could ever possibly--they fulfill a need that you don't even understand you have...they complete you in a very individual and unique way. As secret and fierce and protective as one is with a secret love or a new love, so am I with these books. I don't recommend a series or a title to anybody haphazardly, I have to believe that they would understand even a fraction of what I felt with it. Just as I couldn't entrust any dear friend of mine to just anybody else--as I couldn't possibly let just anybody have those precious pieces of my friends, so could I never just entrust the passion and love I have for these books to just anybody else. These books aren't escapism to me, they're finding another piece of my soul, anchoring a new feeling or something else I need to me.
And that...that is what reading is to me. Learning new things, meeting new people, meeting new pieces of myself, and sharing these new pieces of me with people who can understand.
People read for a lot of reasons. He says his main reason is to learn new things, which is completely acceptable. He's been really into very postmodern books the past couple of years, mainly, and it's a "new ways to see the world as it already exists," in his words. I brought up that a lot of the reason I read the (few) fantasy books I do read is a similar reason--to see new possibilities. He used the "escapism" accusation, which was true at one point for me, but no longer is. Really, theatre was my big "escape." Books like the HDM trilogy open up new possibilities to me, and expand upon possibilities that I've considered before. In return, of course, I had to bring up how I miss how open-minded he used to be, and how much less so he's become over the years.
Anyway, today I realized what a big part of it is for me. Reading to me is a love affair of sorts, and there's nothing more amazing. As I was sitting there trying so hard not to cry my heart out in the coffeeshop, I realized the love and the passion that I get for many of the books I read, and how protective of it I am, too. Don't get me wrong, I've read plenty of books that I was perfectly fine with putting down at the end and didn't have any seemingly lingering affects on me, but then there are these books, and these are the books that I tend to push on particular friends. Once in a while I tell a friend that they have to read a book, or I will (very rarely) buy a book for a friend because I know they just have to read it. These are the books that I actively seek out to read, and a large reason why I don't read as often as I used to--I'm searching for that specific feeling. I'm desperate to devour them, heartbroken and torn to pieces when I have to set them down and leave them, and constantly thinking of them even months and years after they are over. I'm fiercely protective over them, and--as one only finds with a lover who is a piece of themselves--they enter and fill a place and understand in a way that no other person, no other book, could ever possibly--they fulfill a need that you don't even understand you have...they complete you in a very individual and unique way. As secret and fierce and protective as one is with a secret love or a new love, so am I with these books. I don't recommend a series or a title to anybody haphazardly, I have to believe that they would understand even a fraction of what I felt with it. Just as I couldn't entrust any dear friend of mine to just anybody else--as I couldn't possibly let just anybody have those precious pieces of my friends, so could I never just entrust the passion and love I have for these books to just anybody else. These books aren't escapism to me, they're finding another piece of my soul, anchoring a new feeling or something else I need to me.
And that...that is what reading is to me. Learning new things, meeting new people, meeting new pieces of myself, and sharing these new pieces of me with people who can understand.
