Reading - Part III

As technology changes and advances, society is moving from a print-based format to a prominently image-based media. This fact is very disconcerting and sad to me. Fewer people read the newspaper (either the paper copy or online) and fewer people read anything very much at all. Books are gathering dust as technology continues to sweep up available time with video games, text messaging, endless TV and other newfangled techno advances. Not that techno advances are bad, but the loss of simple enriching pleasures such as reading, visiting/talking/discussing, playing parlor games and interacting with one another may impact our culture and way of life more than we realize.
I read this very interesting article entitled Why Literature Matters several months ago that supports this idea. It is written by Dana Gioia who is the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Here is a talk he gave on a similar theme at Stanford 's 2007 commencement. It's such a good talk and message that it really deserves a blog entry all of its own. It's worth every minute it will take you to read it. You might have a paradigm shift about reading after you've read it if you don't think that daily reading and the arts really matter very much. I'll make reference to the part today that has to do with reading. I quote part of the talk:

• A good book changes as you change. The same work can mean something different at each stage of your life.
• Marcus Aurelius believed that the course of wisdom consisted of learning to trade easy pleasures for more complex and challenging ones. I worry about a culture that bit by bit trades off the challenging pleasures of art for the easy comforts of entertainment. And that is exactly what is happening - not just in the media, but in our school and civic life.
  
• Our country is dividing into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of its free time sitting at home as passive consumers of electronic entertainment. Even family communication is breaking down as members increasingly spend their time alone, staring at their individual screens.
• The other group also used and enjoys the new technology, but these individuals balance it with a broader range of activities. They go out - they exercise, play sports, volunteer and do charity work at about three times the level of the first group.
  
• What is the defining difference between passive and active citizens? Curiously, it isn't income, geography or even education. It depends on whether or not they read for pleasure and participate in the arts. These cultural activities seem to awaken a heightened sense of individual awareness and social responsibility.
  
• The habit of daily reading...overwhelmingly correlates with better reading skills and higher academic achievement. On the other had, poor reading skills correlate with lower levels of financial and job success...Whether or not people read, and indeed now much and how often they read, affects their lives in crucial ways.

How can we get our families to read more? How do we lead the charge if we feel that there is real value to the activity?
I think one way would be to share book titles that we enjoy and to share a book review every so often if we've read something we've really enjoyed. Here are some of my favorite series that I shared with others who enjoyed reading them as well:

Lord of the Rings - I read the entire series when I was convalescing with my broken leg when I was 20 years old. I suggested them to Dave when he was a boy and he loved reading them as well.

A bunch of the classics like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities and Moby Dick. Our parents collected these leather bound classics in our home and I read most of these the summer I was staying with Lee and Carol when Mom and Dad, Jan and Dave went to England to get Paul from his mission. Sometimes I would read all night. I would love to read them all again and I highly recommend the Jane Austen series!

Anne of Green Gables series and Anne of Avonlea - young married
Centennial and other James Michener books - college age

The Work and the Glory series - read as a young married

Children of the Promise series - read about 15 years ago with Rick. Enjoyed them very much.
Twilight - OK, I know it's not great literature, but it was entertaining!

You can see my Shelf located on the left side to see what I'm reading now. I like a mix of topics ranging from biographies to religious, fantasy, adventure, history, or just something where I can learn something new.

What are you reading now?