Talking Heads #4
"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting..."
Herbert Bayard Swope, creator of the Op-Ed page.
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/talkingheads.jpg)
A two week forum for opinions on anything in print: magazines, newspaper articles, online: bring your ideas and let's discuss.
Our Fourth Selection is:
Why Is It A Sin To Read For Fun? (http://www.newsweek.com/id/193475)
By Jennie Yabroff | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Apr 20, 2009
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/ddmreadingbed.jpg)
Rest by Deborah Dewit Marchant (http://www.dewitmarchant.com)
Posted with kind permission of the artist, . All Rights Reserved.
Jodi Picoult makes lots of people love books—but has she become too successful to be taken seriously?
If we remove the assumption that reading is virtuous (a Picoult novel is better for you than a reality TV show), then the good/better hierarchy (Virginia Woolf is better for you than Jodi Picoult) collapses, and books are left to stand on their own merits, not their implied nutritional value. In last year's "The Solitary Vice: Against Reading," writer Mikita Brottman challenges the accepted wisdom that reading is inherently uplifting, arguing that it turns us into antisocial misanthropes who would do better to be out in the world than home with a book. It's an intentionally provocative argument, but equating reading—all reading, from the classics to the tabloids—with pleasure feels radical in this age of government-subsidized municipal book clubs. Maybe if reading wasn't so "good" for us, we'd do more of it." -- Jennie Yabroff
Are some types of books "better" than others? More uplifting, more ennobling? Is reading for pure pleasure shameful? Why are prizes not given to the Stephen Kings and Jodi Picoults?
Do you feel guilty about some of your own reading choices? Which ones? Let's discuss!
Discussion Leader: Ginny (gvinesc@gmail.com)
Talking Heads #4
"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting..."
Herbert Bayard Swope, creator of the Op-Ed page.
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/talkingheads.jpg)
A two week forum for opinions on anything in print: magazines, newspaper articles, online: bring your ideas and let's discuss.
Our Fourth Selection is:
Why Is It A Sin To Read For Fun? (http://www.newsweek.com/id/193475)
By Jennie Yabroff | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Apr 20, 2009
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/ddmreadingbed.jpg)
Rest by Deborah Dewit Marchant (http://www.dewitmarchant.com)
Posted with kind permission of the artist, . All Rights Reserved.
Jodi Picoult makes lots of people love books—but has she become too successful to be taken seriously?
If we remove the assumption that reading is virtuous (a Picoult novel is better for you than a reality TV show), then the good/better hierarchy (Virginia Woolf is better for you than Jodi Picoult) collapses, and books are left to stand on their own merits, not their implied nutritional value. In last year's "The Solitary Vice: Against Reading," writer Mikita Brottman challenges the accepted wisdom that reading is inherently uplifting, arguing that it turns us into antisocial misanthropes who would do better to be out in the world than home with a book. It's an intentionally provocative argument, but equating reading—all reading, from the classics to the tabloids—with pleasure feels radical in this age of government-subsidized municipal book clubs. Maybe if reading wasn't so "good" for us, we'd do more of it." -- Jennie Yabroff
Are some types of books "better" than others? More uplifting, more ennobling? Is reading for pure pleasure shameful? Why are prizes not given to the Stephen Kings and Jodi Picoults?
Do you feel guilty about some of your own reading choices? Which ones? Let's discuss!
Discussion Leader: Ginny (gvinesc@gmail.com)
Jane, “so has sin.” I love it – the comment, I mean.
Has anyone read Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes, or Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin, or Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson? Or even heard or the authors or titles? I’ll bet not many. But yet they’re up there with Gone with the Wind and The Good Earth and Arrowsmith and So Big and Age of Innocence. They must have had something at some point.
I have not yet read, nor seen the movie, The Hours by Michael Cunningham. But I have heard both cussed out by so many people. My reading is much dependent on my mood of the moment. I wonder if such is the case with those who judge books for awards.