Week 16 Prompt
When I was a child, I would read anything and everything around. I would pull everything I could find off the shelf and read it. No matter what it was; funny, scary, happy, sad. It didn't matter. I just wanted to read. When I was a child, ebooks weren't a thing, neither were devices as they are now. There weren't tablets, phones, computers, or anything like that. I remember getting super excited when I found a typewriter at a garage sale so I could finally type my own stories instead of handwriting them! :) Over the years, I clearly started picking books based on what my interests were and started including ebooks and audio books. I remember when I first had a teacher who had books on tape in the classroom and I hated them! Now I rather enjoy them, which has come as such a surprise to me (although I am rather picky on narrators, for sure!).
I found LeGuin's article rather interesting. I completely agree with her ending statement that "if a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you're fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you're reading a whole new book." A lot of times I'm very wary of revisiting a book that I read as a teenager/young adult, especially one that I loved. What if I don't love it as much as I did? What if I hate it? I realize that might be a bit extreme, but the thought is still there. But as she also mentions, there is a clear time line of change in the past and I'm sure there will be time line difference for the future as well. Obviously one cannot predict the future, but I don't see it being a fast growing change. I do expect see ebooks to be a continually growing market. I don't see print publishing diminishing in the near future. I also do not ever expect to see reading becoming interactive, as LeGuin describes. There are no set "rules" and each reader reads a different book. For instance, when I read A Wrinkle In Time and then my friend Malissa reads A Wrinkle In Time, we are not reading the same book since we two completely different people with two completely different perspectives and life experiences. But I do think print publishing, eventually, will decline in numbers but will never go away completely.
I found LeGuin's article rather interesting. I completely agree with her ending statement that "if a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you're fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you're reading a whole new book." A lot of times I'm very wary of revisiting a book that I read as a teenager/young adult, especially one that I loved. What if I don't love it as much as I did? What if I hate it? I realize that might be a bit extreme, but the thought is still there. But as she also mentions, there is a clear time line of change in the past and I'm sure there will be time line difference for the future as well. Obviously one cannot predict the future, but I don't see it being a fast growing change. I do expect see ebooks to be a continually growing market. I don't see print publishing diminishing in the near future. I also do not ever expect to see reading becoming interactive, as LeGuin describes. There are no set "rules" and each reader reads a different book. For instance, when I read A Wrinkle In Time and then my friend Malissa reads A Wrinkle In Time, we are not reading the same book since we two completely different people with two completely different perspectives and life experiences. But I do think print publishing, eventually, will decline in numbers but will never go away completely.
I really liked that quote too, and it is so true. I've re read some classics that I was "forced" to read in school and I just appreciate and understand them so much more now that I'm older and have some life experience. You're right that our experiences and perspectives can completely change a book's message for us. This is one thing I love about book clubs; you get so many different interpretations!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you mention being leery of revisiting books that you loved when you were younger because I just had a discussion with a coworker who had that exact experience. She re-read a book she remembered fondly and when she read it again found she couldn't stand it. Personally I have re-read several books I loved as a kid and found the experience to be about the same, I guess nostalgia won out for me.
ReplyDeleteExcellent prompt response! Full points!
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