I worked in a library for 2 years prior to coming to
Huntington, despite the fact that I have always been a bad reader. I was in special reading classes in elementary
school, barely read anything in middle school, and to top it off I have bad
eyesight in general. I didn’t like reading. Needless to say I was surprised
when I was hired at my local library, and I loved it. The library truly is a
gem filled with so many wonderful stories, and it always made me a little sad
when I found a book that I enjoyed thoroughly that seemed as though it hadn’t
been touched in years. A wide portion of the books I handled were probably
good. A wide portion of the books that were good were probably books I would
have enjoyed. It is seldom likely however, that I would have double-read or dove
into any of the books I may have enjoyed.
Living in this world means that time is money and when you
can be fed books at a quicker pace that’s usually what people tend to do. It’s
hard for me and others who can relate, to pick up a book, good or bad, and take
it for what it is. It’s really hard to understand why some stories are made to
be sad or confusing, or controversial, but that’s when a bad reader can decide
to be a good one and take the book at face value. Sometimes I picked up books
and wondered how did this ever get published?
Maybe if I would have looked at the story from another angle or reread it,
it would have made more sense…maybe.
There is such a thing as a bad book and it’s mainly because
what we see published now is the same thing the world has been giving us
forever. The stories aren’t original. Because everything is in the media and
can be seen nearly instantaneously on the internet, people are able to just
bounce the same old stories around and give them to us in a shiny new package.
Maybe that’s another one of the reasons I’m a bad reader; I’ve heard these
stories before. I’ll be a better reader
when someone gives me something worth reading well.
One of the most prominent things that stuck with me in my high school English days came from my senior English class. We had to read a book called, "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" by Thomas Foster, and I actually kind of liked it. The biggest thing from that book, and what my professor reminded everyone throughout the year, was that there is only one story. One story just told in different angles and different scenarios. That's why any element of any story may seem familiar or used, even if it hasn't been done in that way before. We somehow recognize what it means or how it's being used. That one little thing has stuck with me, and your post reminded me of it.
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