reason against reading

I have been unabashed and relentless in a pursuit of audience members for the plays in which I have participated. Always attempting to appeal to the people who seldom sit in front of a stage. Because… I think it’s good entertainment. I remember a response to one of these invitations when I was performing in a costume drama. The reply was that anything that wasn’t a musical wasn’t worth the time or money of seeing it. Eh. I’m older now and understand we all have our passions. She’s an avid Red Sox fan, something for which I have that disdain.

But… this conversation ebbs back into my mind today. Because of some other ideas expressed to me recently. I have gone back to the critique I received yesterday, with a determination to gain some wisdom from the rendering. Something that was stated resonated with another conversation I had about books and reading this week. That these other people read to escape, not because they want to think too hard.

All right. I can take that. I mean… I’m starting to read romance novels now. And I have to say, the thrill is intoxicating and fun. I am a Dr. Who fanatic… and that is so cheesy and campy… and yet… not. It actually does make me think. And that’s why I like it. But I get that Dr. Who is probably just fun for some of its viewers. And then there are people like me who take it way too seriously. Can you take a romance novel seriously? Well, um, yeah. Jane Austen? Charlotte Bronte? Elizabeth Gaskell? But maybe that’s just because they are dead writers and thereby get lifted up onto pedestal status.

But I started thinking about this. Yes, I do read to escape my life sometimes. Sometimes. But, really, I read to think. All the time. Even if it is fluff. Because I think about how it is written, about where the story is going, about the setting, about what motivated the writer to craft these characters and plots, about how someone else might like this book. I think when I read.

I am reading much more these days. Granted, I have a newly acquired ulterior motive. But it doesn’t diminish what first energized the magnet that draws my brain to a bound volume of pages. Or an article I find on the internet. I read because I want to KNOW more. No, I’m not going to acquire a huge vat of information by reading a beach novel. But… you know what? That writer spent some time and heart and work on putting that novel together. I don’t care if it is fluff. To say that I read it because I’m not thinking… well, as a writer… that’s kind of insulting. 

But obviously… we use art and entertainment to escape our drudgery for a little while. I mean… how else can you explain Michael Bay? But… it isn’t all just vapid veneer. Even South Park has something cerebral… but it doesn’t make it highfaluting. 

UGH. Okay. I know I say it lots. I do accept that the whole world doesn’t act with my motivations. I understand that, people. I really do. But… it just… the idea of reading to not think is a concept that … well, seriously, you don’t have to read my novel if that activity is too much for you. I’ll be perfectly content if you skip it. Save your brain the trouble.