happy halloween! the only thing better than candy, is a good book. hope you got a chance to pick up this slim little book of essays. here’s our guest host emily’s view on things.
I thank our inspiring hostess for her persistent invitation to review a book. It gave me the swift kick in the glut I needed to open and finish something worth discussing. I selected Quindlen’s book with the hope that she would give me additional momentum to push me to read her manageable book lists. In her extended essay, Quindlen weaves her evolution as a reader from a young girl to a middle-aged woman with contemporary literary issues. The End.
The teacher in me can’t help but form discussion questions when I read. This non-traditional ‘book review’ addresses the foremost themes through quotes and question format to engage you in a conversation. I am dying to know what you think about Quindlen’s ideas and hope that regardless of whether you picked up the 70 page essay, you will offer your two bits.
Chapter 1
“Perhaps restlessness is a necessary corollary of devoted literacy.” p. 4
1. What causes restlessness? How does reading relieve it? Is reading merely an escape for the discontent?
Anna seems to have been inconvenienced as a child by having to interact with others.
2. Can our passion for reading impair our interactions with others? p. 5-8
In response to this question, I remember a reading experience I had several years ago. Even though I am not a Harry Potter fanatic, when the last volume was published, I found myself using every spare minute and hour to rip through the chapters. I recall feeling peevish when my reading was interrupted by a hungry baby and husband. I was startled by being so perturbed, yet was too engrossed in the suspense to slow my pace until I had finished the text.
Reading for pleasure v. reading for purpose. The former represents snobbery. p. 9-10
3. Do your perceptions of others change based on their reading habits?
Chapter 2
“The act of reading, the act of seeing a story on a page as opposed to hearing a story told - is infinitely more complex…” p.16
1. How have audio books impacted reading?
2. True or False? Women read more than men for intellectual exercise and companionship. p. 29-31
Chapter 3
She introduces the infamous concept of the Canon and suggests that reading literature ‘is not simply for personal growth, but for cultural and societal growth as well.” p. 39
1. What are your views on the Canon?
2. Have you experienced censorship of book lists or thought that a book should have been removed from a required reading list?
Ch. 4
Quindlen addresses the dynamics of the symbiotic relationship between reading and writing.
1. Have you felt inspired to write after reading? What did you read? Will you share what you wrote? p. 53
She shares her first memories of watching her parents read. p. 56
2. Do you have memories of your parents reading on their own/with you? How has their attitude towards literacy impacted your own reading identity/habits?
“But a computer is no substitute for a book. No one wants to take a computer to bed at the end of a long day, to read a chapter or two before dropping off to sleep.” p.64
3. Has the computer detracted from the joy of pleasure reading? Is technology killing or promoting literacy?
Case and point: I made a conscious choice to bury myself in my comforter to finish the essay last night instead of reading and taking notes on the computer .
Chapter 4
Books, words, authors, characters are immortal.
“Through [books] we experience other times, other places, other lives. We manage to become more than our own selves. The only dead are those who grow sere and shriveled within, unable to step outside their own lives and into those of others. Ignorance is death. A closed mind is a catafalque.” p. 69
1. The meaning of catafalque - discuss.
For anyone else like me who could only guess at the definition of a catafalque: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catafalque
Book Lists
1. Which of these do you love/cherish/recommend?
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Doesn’t everyone think they are the independent, creative, and adventurous Josephine March?
2. Are there any books that you have passed by for the last time and feel motivated to read now?
Middlemarch by George Eliot
emily recently relocated from solon, ohio to utah. she holds a masters degree in english as a second language and is busy awaiting the arrival of daughter number two.
i assure you, emily, that i am going to answer all of your questions, but first i am going to the halloween parade.
I’m not going to answer the questions/discussion things one by one. I did read the whole book and for the most part enjoyed (used loosely) it. I felt somewhat like I was back in school and reading actually wasn’t fun at the time. I like fiction…even historical fiction. But I’m really not into essays. I did agree with her that I love a good book. I would hate to see books go ‘out of style’. I could get very wrapped up in a book, so much so that other kids would through paper wads at me and I’d not even notice (this done during ‘inside’ recess). But reading a book about reading…sorry not for me.
On Restlessness and Reading
I believe that there is more to restlessness than discontent that begs escape. Restlessness lies at the root of curiosity–the motor that drives a person to seek new experiences and knowledge. I believe that individuals tend to express their curiosity in that they perceive to be the most rewarding–especially early in life. Whatever the medium through which the exploration takes place, be it the printed word or the backcountry ramble, there are moments in life when you realize that the world is a very big place, and that your own experiences are very small.
The unique power of reading is in its ability to address both the personal and global restlessness that strikes a person (travel is an analogous medium for ’scratching this itch’–often not as accessible, however (and not automatically more meaningful)). While reading can expose us to the entire spectrum of human experience in all its glorious differences, it simultaneously invites an intensely personal process that illuminates the universal in our experiences–that is, those parts of our small lives that are repeated in so many iterations and variations across the world.
I like reading.