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I'm remembering why I stopped reading fiction:
1)I CANNOT put the book down until it is done.
2)I get the same wandering, wasteful feeling you get after watching too many hours of television.
3)I spend too much energy internalizing someone else's experiences. I forget that none of it is real.
4)I feel guilty for putting real life on hold.
Maybe if there was some way to justify it or regulate it.
I'm remembering reasons why it was valuable:
1)Its nice to know what someone else thinks.
2)Its nice to see how someone else writes.
3)Its got to be good for my vocabulary.
4)Important people say I should.
I just hate the feeling I get. Like I've been talking to someone for hours on the internet. I'm afraid of it. It doesn't seem honest.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Abish
8 years ago
6 comments:
I find that reading it for the purpose of talking to real people makes it seem more worth while. Like a book group. But that only works if your book group has smart people with useful things to say and they read things that you can actually have real discussions about.
It also helps to choose something that's not Twilight. It just takes SO MANY HOURS of being in someone else's world, and I find that their world is not inherently uplifting, although I seem to be in a decided minority here.
I have not figured out the regulation of time. The best I can do is to give myself several days off of fiction after I overload. Nicole is only allowed to read fiction on the weekend or when she's off track.
I always feel better after reading fiction for reading circle though, because then the whole time my brain is working on trying to figure out what the incredibly intelligent women in my group are going to discuss and I feel like it keeps my brain working.
Wow! Talyn, you're so helpful. I've decided there has to be an alterior motive to my reading fiction. I cannot read it to read it. I need to learn something, not just escape. I think that it helps you to carefully select what you read. Walk Two Moons was full of surprises. It was lovely, and honestly, I don't believe I would've observed how lovely if I had been in the seventh grade. I would only have cared about Ben, and even then I wouldn't have known how perfect he was. I would like a 23 year old Ben and a chicken named Blackberry.
Some fiction is good. Some is trash. I like books like Walk Two Moons because it feels honest and genuine. And because while reading it I could often relate to feelings Sal experienced. While reading sometimes I learn things about myself, like something falls into place or finally makes sense. I really believe that all writing is autobiographical in some measure. I don't think an author can completely remove themselves from the text he/she is writing, because it's coming FROM THEM. In short, good fiction has value. I have yet to see the value in fiction of the likes of Twilight, etc. But, of course, reading does not replace interacting with people and creating your own experiences. Maybe someday you'll write about those experiences and some young girl will read it and think, "hey, I've felt that way before."
Some great input has already been offered. May I offer my own? (if not, please discontinue reading)
I know the feeling, that uncomfortable, sweaty feeling as you wake from a warm afternoon nap with all your clothes still on - at least, that's what it's like for me. But I can still remember the first book that didn't give me that feeling when I was done. I felt like part of the book was like my own story and that having read it, I had greater freedom to choose how my story would end.
"To see that your life is a story while you're in the middle of living it may be a help to living it well. . . other people's stories may become part of your own, the foundation of it, the ground it goes on"
Reading the right kind of books helps me realize where the plot twists in my own life are coming, and to know what the choices really are, and to know what the consequences will have to be. Hopefully that means I'll live a better life. That to me, makes a story real, even if it's a complete fairy tale, it's honest to my experience.
I think I ended up answering my own thoughts than replying to your question. Oh well, at least I offered you the choice to stop reading.
I read the entire thing. :)
I walked across campus this morning and heard people left and right declare personal things about themselves that made it sound like they knew exactly what was up, and had no hesitation making choices that would seriously effect their future. Made me think of you. Syl says one can relate the text to the past. You take it a step further and say one can relate the text to the future. I wonder. Maybe all these people who're so sure of themselves have been reading a lot of fiction?
I just answered my thoughts as well--new thoughts.
I'm a huge chicken aren't I?
Sorry, I didn't warn you not to read this.
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