However, my collection is not nearly that expansive. I loved books, I lived in books. People looked at me funny when I said I liked the feel and smell of books. Aunt Sandra used to comment about me reading every time we went to visit. I can't say that I read that widely, after all, Orderville is slightly limited in the literary sense, but I did the best I could with what I had. Thank goodness for the Bookmobile.Then I met James and he put reading into a whole new perspective for me. He used to tease me about reading drivel (i.e., fiction). I of course, would get a little defensive, how could he tease me about something I loved so much? Then he explained. His vision, which most of you know, is limited and on top of that he is dyslexic. Doctors were amazed when he started reading again after his surgery. It would have been interesting, because of the vision loss he experienced double vision as his eyes adjusted. Try to imagine only seeing have a page, but seeing it double. Reading would be a challenge. Because of his experiences and limitations, he feels he doesn't have the time to waste reading drivel, but would rather spend the time reading other books (since I've met him he's read the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, a large portion of Mormon Doctrine, several books by Hugh Nibley, and he's working on Joseph Smith Papyri (which is not a book for the faint of heart), another book by Hugh Nibley, and many more. Needless to say, by spending his time reading such books, instead of fictions books, which are mostly entertaining, he has forced me to reexamine my love of reading.
Don't get me wrong, lessons can be learned from fiction works, but I wonder if I spent too much time learning from fiction and not enough time reading, well, more educational books. While I can't go back and change the past, and I'm not sure that I would, what will I change in the future with my new found perspective? Right now, I don't even have the time to worry about it. Me, who used to be in the middle of three or four books can't even remember what book I read last. I don't have any books planned, except for textbooks and the like. Am I sad about that? At one time I would have been absolutely devastated, but strangely, I'm not. The days where I read like that were fun, but the time has come for me to think of other things, with occasional dabblings into the realm of drivel. ;)
9 comments:
Don't feel too bad about all the time you spent reading "drivel". If all the fiction books you read were "drivel", then all the fantasy books I read would have to qualify as something like "month-old, moldy drivel". But reading shapes us, even when you read "drivel". I once heard someone say, upon being told a particular book was good, "I don't have time for 'novels'." I have to admit I was a little bit sad for him. Without fiction, our minds are limited to the real world, and as grand as this world we live in is, and as many great and wonderful things as there are to read about, if we lose the ability to let our imagination take over, then we've lost something truly wonderful indeed. So I say long live imaginative "drivel"!
Well said Bro. I don't feel bad about the drivel I've read, and believe me, my life won't be complete without it in the future. I hope to find a better balance between drivel and information though.
I, of course, completely disagree with labeling fiction as drivel. One of my favorite Brigham Young quotes reads, “‘Shall I sit down and read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants all the time?’ says one. Yes, if you please, and when you have done, you may be nothing but a sectarian after all" (Journal of Discourses 2:93). A sectarian--as in dogmatic, fanatical, rigid, and bigoted. Pretty serious stuff. Commenting on this, Richard H. Cracroft said, "All of this goes far toward making a case for the study of literature, which needs little promotion, for it is at the core of all human knowledge . . . Great literature exudes sweetness and light. Great literature must by nature deal with the old verities or truths of the heart, which William Faulkner has called 'the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.' Great literature enables us to hold our heads high, to be certain in our hearts that, despite all, truth will prevail. Great literature cuts through the dross and accumulations of earthcrust that build upon our souls, and in cutting through to eternal truths, such literature allows us to focus on the many noble traits of man" ("An Aid to Perfection: Some Thought on Literature and Mormons"). I think that it is the way we read and respond to fiction that determines how much we get out of it--whether it is just "mostly entertaining drivel" or whether it is a way of connecting with and better understanding our fellow men. To me, the humanities (art, literature, music, dance, etc.) are crucial, for they are what make us human.
The labeling of fiction as drivel has become sort of joke to us. I know I wouldn't have the same outlook on life that I have if it hadn't been for drivel in my past. I had several teachers and leaders refer to me as 16 going on 30 because of the views I gained from my readings. My readings were and continue to be an important part of who I am. I am not trying to undermine the importance of reading, I'm trying to come to an understanding with myself of the importance of obtaining a balance in my reading, especially now that I don't have as much time to read.
Wasn't it Mark Twain who said that "He knows how to read and doesn't is no better off than he who can't read" or something like that?
It's amazing to me how often our Church Leaders have quoted authors like Charles Dickens and I can't think of others right now--wait, one of them talked about 'Don Quixote' once. Maybe they read those books long before they were where they are now and just remember what they read, or they still do a little reading. I think it's good to keep exercising your brain, even if its only a little bit at a time. Of course, 'The Saggy Baggy Elephant' and Nursery Rhymes count...
I think this has been my most popular post so far. Reading of any kind is better than no reading. I have a hard time saying that some reading is more fun than others, just a different kind of enjoyment.
We'd all have to agree that we are the sum good or bad of our past including the drivel.
Dad, I think you've summed it up the best. I remember Grandma Sorensen was the one who introduced me to the quote about not reading what you don't want to remember.
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