Friday, March 14, 2014

Next Question

I have found myself hopelessly checking my blog for comments from classmates just as much as a teenager checks their Facebook page for "Likes" on the more recent selfie they posted.  I craved for acknowledgement!  For feedback!  For a 'good job' or even a 'yeah.. that made no sense'.  Anything.  And then... a miracle happened.  I clicked... it uploaded... and there they were!  Not one comment, BUT TWO! [hallelujah chorus fills the air].  Shout out to Jose and Chelsea.  Sure, their comments were simple, but they got me thinking again. (Thanks y’all!) 

I hadn't considered "Why Do YOU Read?" a thought provoking question... But it was enough of a question to continue to bring in answers.  
Like evolution, the question and answers have begun to change.  I no longer get comments about WHY they read, but passionate posts of WHAT they read.  

Is there a correlation?

Is there a correlation between WHAT people read and the reason WHY they read?  

You always hear the tragic tail of the high school cool kid that read the first sentence of a great book, found it boring and never returned to the magical land of literature again! 
But just as frequently you get those "the universe as aligned" moments and the perfect book lands in the hand of the perfect person and an eternal bond was made between inked pages and yearning imaginations.

Now, keep up.. this is a Spaghetti moment
Do people generally pick up a book for the WHY or first for the WHAT?
When I asked the question for “WHY do you read?” a large part of the answers consisted the desire to escape, adventure and the thrill of new worlds.  Is that the driving force behind reading?  
Or do people more pick up a favorite genre, a familiar story or recommended novel and then, secondarily, find joy in the journey and other wordily transportation?
Are books happen chance or do we 

What comes first (generally) the WHY or the WHAT? 


And between those two things, 
What in your mind makes a GOOD BOOK? 

~ that's my next question to the masses!  
Stay tuned for the results.

>>Next step and question, how does a "good book" become defined by its generation?  

2 comments:

  1. This is an awesome way to get readers thinking! I think I definitely used to be a "What" reader. I read a lot of fantasy, which was the majority of what I thought about up until high school. Now, I'm still a "What" reader, but my what has changed. I read a lot more classics, and now I've started to read more recent novels. However, I'm not a big novel finisher. I finish them, it just takes a long time. I'm still in the middle of Les Mis, but I pick it up to read it because I love the experience of reading the words and thinking about the characters. I don't know if this is what you were going for, but I definitely relate to the "What" and "Why" question!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Honestly, in answer to your question I think it is a mix of both. But I would venture to say that many people pick up a book because of the WHAT, rather than the WHY. Especially at first. For me, I read because I like to read, but I have specific genres and authors that I like better than others, so it's a combination of the two. But when I first learned how to read, there wasn't a WHY, because I had not yet developed it. So my answer is that people pick up a book for the WHAT more so than the WHY. The best example of this? Twilight. I personally know at least ten people who did not regularly read books until Twilight came out. Because it was such a big deal, everyone was raving about it, they decided they needed to pick it up. Why? Because it's Twilight! Now, I may not particularly like Meyers' style of writing, but she did something right. She took an entire nation/generation of non-readers and convinced them to read! In our world right now, everything is about Facebook, video games, social media, YouTube, etc. I've noticed in my younger sisters and their friends that nobody reads as much as they used to. But guess what book series they have ALL read? Twilight. Then of course, the parents read Twilight because their kids were reading it, and they needed to make sure it was okay. Again, the WHAT factor. I think you've got something good going here! "WHAT" is my vote! :)

    ReplyDelete