The World Fantasy Award-nominated speculative fiction blog.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Reader Question
Does the act of reading need to have a practical side to it? Like if I read a novel, is it required of me to have "learned" something?
My brain tells me yes while my heart is screaming no. Something to personally ponder about.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
this seems to be one of those questions where people will have different answers. i'm sure there are those who'll say that reading for the sake of enjoying oneself is a primary motivation.
but personally, i read to learn. it's not "required," of course, but it's pretty much my default. i read to learn how a particular writer puts together words, how this writer perceives his or her reality, the new things i can see through the writer's eyes. but mostly, i read to learn how i react to different kinds of writing. i sometimes read certain highly recommended manga titles, only to discover that i hate them and their style of presentation, and so forth.
maybe some people just aren't aware of their need to learn when the craving to read strikes?
we don't read to learn all the time. i think about half the time, especially for people who love reading, we read for entertainment. if we learn something from what we read (which we usually do), then that's just an additional perk. :)
2 comments:
this seems to be one of those questions where people will have different answers. i'm sure there are those who'll say that reading for the sake of enjoying oneself is a primary motivation.
but personally, i read to learn. it's not "required," of course, but it's pretty much my default. i read to learn how a particular writer puts together words, how this writer perceives his or her reality, the new things i can see through the writer's eyes. but mostly, i read to learn how i react to different kinds of writing. i sometimes read certain highly recommended manga titles, only to discover that i hate them and their style of presentation, and so forth.
maybe some people just aren't aware of their need to learn when the craving to read strikes?
we don't read to learn all the time. i think about half the time, especially for people who love reading, we read for entertainment. if we learn something from what we read (which we usually do), then that's just an additional perk. :)
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