The Importance of Reading
“Why do you read all the time?” A frequently asked question of my past and I still find it repeated even now as I have entered a higher class of the educated. Whenever posed with this blatant criticism of my preferred free time activity, I simply answer with “Why don’t you read all the time?” Of course I might sound like the biggest geek that ever walked the face of the earth, but the fact of the matter is that no matter what negative stereotype is attached to those who read, it has never stopped me from continuing to pursue my joy of literature. I am a firm believer in the power of a book and that the fact that the more well read you are the better chance you have of relating to entirely different groups of
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Jane Austen is the main reason why I love to read and through her books I entered such a wonderful, long-dead, society of chivalry and protocol, where the characters feel so real and you only wish you could be Elizabeth Bennet falling for Mr. Darcy and becoming mistress of Pemberly.
Not only is my love for British literature born from Shakespeare, but also from my love for history. I have been enamored with the past for as long as I can remember. History has shaped every aspect of our society today and is something to be reverenced and remembered. When I was nine years old my family moved from South Africa to the former Soviet Union, more specifically to a little country called Latvia. This might have been the best move to better ignite my passion for history as the country is ancient and so is its culture. I visited every ruin and castle I could in the four-year span I was there. And as a result my writing blossomed as my imagination and knowledge of the ancients expanded with the combination of my extensive reading.
I remember when I was in fourth grade we had to write a short children’s book. At first the idea scared me and I had what I call baby writers block. I could not think of a good topic to write it on and for the first time in my young life I was at a loss for words and ideas. After communicating this to my teacher she simply gave me a look of “ Well, what do you want me to do about it?” and went about her
The article The Death of Reading is Threatening the Soul by Philip Yancey focuses on how many people are no longer “deep reading” and instead are reading “fewer of the [types] of books that require hard work” (Yancey 1). This is because the brain experiences a dopamine rush that occurs “when we learn something quick and new” (Yancey 2). Yancey agrees with many other intelligent, well-known people who stress the need to read many books or book pages daily. He adds that they acknowledge that it’s “beyond reach for [everyone] but [a] few people” so there’s no reason not to partake in the goal, especially since it is extremely beneficial (Yancey 3). Yancey describes reading lots of books has helped unleash his creativity and diminish his writer’s
At this point in my life I find myself in an interesting predicament regarding my attitudes toward reading and writing; more so towards reading. Years ago I used to love reading books for pleasure but nowadays I find myself reading things that little to no effort to digest. This includes the very basic posts on facebook expressing one’s opinion on something or articles and threads on reddit discussing topics I find intriguing. Perhaps it’s the severe senioritis that has overcome me as I enter my last semester at Chapman University. As I’ve gotten lazier I can see it start to reflect in my everyday life. Deep down I still love to read but I rarely find myself getting truly invested into the action unless it relates to something I am very
Beth and I took turns writing. I remember only being able to write about a half of a page before my hand would begin to hurt. We must have worked on it for about four hours, and then we were done with our masterpiece. Beth and I both thought that our book was by far the best we had ever read. We were sure we were the most ingenious children alive. The end result of our story was not so pleasant, however. We decided to read our story to my younger sister Kari, to gain her opinion on our brilliance. Kari hated the story. She became bored very quickly and found something else to do. Beth and I were crushed. However, we were determined to try again some day, and we did. We wrote countless stories
As a girl growing up around a group of bikers, boys and two parents who listened to eighties hair bands and metal, you wouldn’t think that I read or was read to frequently before starting school. I pursued in reading quite often, actually. When I finally started school, I had the tendency of keeping to myself and staying quiet. There never have been very many friends in the picture of my life. I learned at a young age that there often are going to be cliques, even when you’re an eight year old in girl scouts. I stood out in more ways than one, but for now I’m only going to elucidate why reading is so salient to me.
As a child, I read non-stop. I used to spend entire nights reading, so much so that by the age of 9, I had developed grey circles under my eyes, which I wore like a badge. In school, I would use every free second I had to get just a little closer to finishing whatever book I had on hand. Ms. Carpenter, who always seemed as though she didn’t like teaching very much, frequently yelled at me for keeping my books on my desk so I could get to them quicker whenever I finished my classwork. She insisted that they were a distraction. But I always had a book to read, because every Friday each class walked in a neat line
A person's strength was always his weakness. When it comes to reading and writing, I have many strengths and weaknesses. My past writing and reading experiences have made me into the writer/reader that I today. Strengths help me excel in my read/write, but the weaknesses do bring me in a stump at times. When writing an essay, you can have a very high vocabulary, but not have the best of grammar. The good thing about weaknesses is that they can be worked on to be made into a strength. Many people achieve this by setting goals and making the new one harder and harder. Without strengths or weaknesses or even goals, how would people learn from their mistakes, becoming better at what they're not or achieve their aims.
The author suggests that not reading has worse results that goes beyond just literature. The author persuades this argument by bringing up a real life situation such as getting a job. He quotes an author by the name of Daniel Pink, “the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities”, when asked what kind of talents he likes to see in management positions. Here, the autor does a good job persuading
The history of life on this earth has been a chain of interaction between living things and their surroundings. Change can be good but in this case change is bad. We as humans have been destroying our planet by air, earth, rivers, and sea with the most dangerous materials. Polluting our most precious and limited resources we have been our greatest enemy. We have created these irrecoverable effects that now everyone living on the planet is being affected but also the tissues of the living of everything is now being changed. Chemicals are sinister and a partner to radiation and here is some background information as stated in “The Obligation to Endure” by Rachel Carson pg. 466 where it lists a chain reaction of the chemical to our environment
Jane Austen's intelligence and sophisticated diction made her a revolutionary author, and her mastery surpasses most modern authors. By challenging conventional stereotypes in her novels, she gives the open-minded reader a new perspective through the message she conveys. Her first novel, Northanger Abbey, focuses on reading. However, she parallels typical novel reading with the reading of people. Catherine Morland's coming of age hinges on her ability to become a better reader of both novels and people.
This shows how influential her writing has become throughout the years. Austen’s writing opened the door for other writers to explore romantic literature. “J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, grew up reading Austen, who she described as ‘the pinnacle to which all other authors aspire’” (Redman). She inspires others, not only to write romance, but science fiction like Rowling has done. Her influence on the literature work is is astonishing considering she lived in the 1700’s. Many writers of that time are forgotten by most, but she has lived on way past her death. Austen is taught in high school and college English classes. She has been a huge inspiration for female writers as well. “Jane Austen is now thought of as one of the greatest English authors and considered by many as the first great woman novelist” (Jane Austen [b.1775-d. 1817]). Being considered as one of the first female novelist is a great accomplishment and a huge honor, it is a great shame the “creator” of romance did not get the recognition until after her death. She could have helped develop most extraordinary writers in her
Some love her some hate her, but Jane Austen is actually loved by many. Some call her a heroine and a heroine is a woman admired of idealized for her courage, outstand achievements, or noble qualities. She just might be a hero to some people. She is very relevant because she talks about stuff that people go through till this day. Like love, money, friendship, and family. I’ve read a lot of websites and they all say she writes with a great sense of irony, humor, and realism. She had real life characters, and real life situations. Who wouldn’t love an author like that who talks about stuff that we are going through, plus she died in 1817. Like people went through what we did almost 200 hundred years ago! You also have people who didn’t like Jane they think she was dull and boring. They claim they cannot get past the first chapter. I think they just said
Is it important to be a literate person in today’s society? The ability to function well depends on whether or not a person is literate and can comprehend what is going on around them. If a person doesn’t have the basic ability to read, they will feel the stress and dependency on others because of their illiteracy. Illiteracy is a big problem because without the knowledge of reading, illiterate people can’t perform daily tasks and responsibilities in daily life. When all it would take is a mere two minutes out of your day, don’t you think illiteracy can be helped or even extinguished?
In an article, “Locked in Literacy: Why Reading isn’t Always Good for you,” Leo Robson explains how leisure reading does more harm than good. While leisure reading may be seen as a form of escape into another dimension, it in actuality could become more of a prison, designed to keep the mind trapped in between the pages of a fictional world. There are other ways one could spend their time, for example, there are talents to learn, and skills to develop. And even though reading has its uses—gaining more information on specific topics, scientific research, and cultural backgrounds—it shouldn’t be used as a method to understand life. In fact, life should be the way to understand reading as writing stems from the experience of others. Reading for pleasure should not be encouraged, as reading should only be used to acquire information no matter how boring or uninteresting
Reading has at all times and in all ages been a source of knowledge, of happiness, of pleasure and even moral courage. In today's world with so much more to know and to learn and also the need for a conscious effort to conquer the divisive forces, the importance of reading has increased. In the olden days if reading was not cultivated or encouraged, there was a substitute for it in the religious sermon and in the oral tradition. The practice of telling stories at bed time compensated to some extent for the lack of reading. In the nineteenth century Victorian households used to get together for an hour or so in the evenings and listen to books being read aloud. But today we not only read, we also want to read more and more and catch up
Jane Austen, a Georgian era author, is best known for her romantic novels that criticize societal traditions. Her upbringing and the support that she received from her family assisted her development as a novelist. As she continued to create more literary pieces, Austen received more recognition for her work and eventually became the renowned writer she is today.