Why I Read by Wendy Lesser

     There are many reasons why a person reads books. Now I am not talking about the required reading assigned in class. Having required reading of books that you aren’t ready for ruins the joy of reading.

        Reading should be a time of exploration and discovery. It should be a time of setting out on new adventures.

        When confronted in school with such assigned reading as a book by Sir Walter Scott, a book by Harper Lee, a book by Dickens the student is confronted with an aversion to reading for enjoyment.

        Later in life, if not completely ruined, you can go back and find genres and characters you only dream of existing.

        You may discover that characters and plot are linked. This is one point Lesser makes in this addition to the thousand of books explaining the discipline of reading for enjoyment.

        She enjoys the classics as well as the lyric poetry that are around us in print. It is what you get out of books that should be your motivation for reading.

        It is the characters and the development of the plot that should keep you reading along with the pleasure you get interacting with truth as seen in the story. Patterns emerge as you read.

She points out “to tell the truth in literature, each era, requires a new set of authorial skills with which to rivet a reader’s attention.”

        There is no superior genre. Mysteries and science fiction are just as much carriers of truth as the classics. It is after all truth not lies we are seeking, Lesser points out. And a story must seem true to us to be worth reading.

        This book is a welcome addition to the library of any serious reader. It will act as a refreshing drink for the mind.