In a recent e-letter, I made a distinction between reading critically and reading for entertainment. I’m of the opinion that good books meet both demands, but I also recognize that one type of reading can occur in the absence of the other. I can read to be entertained. I can read to learn. I can read to be both delighted and informed.
The first type of reading, that of reading for entertainment, perhaps isn’t my preferred mode. Plot-heavy books, while sometimes fun, have inevitable endings, and I can’t say that I much enjoy being led by the nose. The world is an untidy place. Wrapping a conclusion with pretty paper and tying a nice bow around it may be of some comfort at times, but it more often feels like being patted on the head and told not to worry. Such a message does not entertain; it irritates.
The second type, reading critically, may be my default mode. I can blame it on studying too much literature or editing one too many papers or books, but my brain may be to blame as well. It’s curious and wants to learn. It seeks to make connections between things. It likes to ponder how an effect was made or how a rhythm was created.
The third type of reading is my favorite because I find myself lost emotionally and mentally within a story. Such stories are, as Sam would say, the ones that stick with a person. They are the ones that are reread and remembered at certain times and places. They are the ones that open the world and make one conscious of his or her place in it.
Why do you read? Do you find that different types of reading sometimes overlap?
Image: Daniel Novta (CC BY 2.0)