About Reading

 

To read or not to read...That's a silly question. So says our poster for today. For me, it's perfect, but I know that all people are not voracious readers like I am. It's a choice, but I feel like the nonreaders in the world, those who choose to get through school and then never bother with reading again, are missing a great deal.

Sure, they have other interests that keep them busy. and that is their right and their choice. But still...

For those of us who are 'readers,' we have myriad choices within the book world. There are many genres in the fiction world. Romance, Historical, Mystery, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Erotica, and Humor are the general categories. Add Young Adult and Fiction for Kids using the same categories, and you have quite a basketful. 

I know people who read non-fiction exclusively. They have no interest in the fiction world. They read to gain knowledge, to understand political, religious, scientific, and health situations in our world. Also, biographies and autobiographies to understand a well-known person. Some non-fiction readers aim for very technical books about a subject they find of interest. Again, there are many choices in the non-fiction field for YA and children's books.

Add to the non-fiction world, the many travel books and those relating to cooking, and the pile keeps growing. Memoir comes under the non-fiction category, even though many read like a fiction novel. Still, they are true stories. Add atlases and almanacs, encyclopedias, and dictionaries.

What about books that feature photographs with only a caption beneath? Very little to actually read but a great deal to see and appreciate. They grace many coffee tables. 

We read more than books. There are poems and essays of all kinds, opinion pieces in the newspaper, true stories in magazines, all the articles in newspapers, as well as academic publications. Add atlases and almanacs.

We read in the comfort of our homes, while commuting on a bus or train, waiting in airports, on a plane, on the beach, in a coffee house, at the library, on a park bench, and anywhere else where we can sit with a book in hand.

All that we read carries us to other places, brings us knowledge, and pleasure. We learn to read and we read to learn. We read to escape from our everyday concerns. 

I'm a senior citizen, but I remember vividly when my first-grade teacher passed out our first reader. She warned us to leave them on our desk, not to open them yet. When everyone had a book, Miss Curto talked to us about the way to open a new book, about the early pages, and finally, on to the story inside. It came across quite clearly that a book was something special, and what was inside would carry us to great heights. We learned to read with that first-grade reader by following Dick and Jane and their sister, Baby Sally, their pets Spot, the dog, and Puff, the cat. Those names and characters became our friends and led me to many other books over the years. 

Do you appreciate the access we Americans have to books and other reading material? In some countries in the world, a book is a rare find.

I am still a reader as well as a writer. How about you?