We read for different reasons. Most of us read because we feel like it ya (I hope so…). But, throughout my reading career so far, I couldn’t always read just for pleasure, of course. In my case, I have many different facets when it comes to reading:
- ‘Guilty pleasure’ reading: Think about a food you crave. For me, it’s chocolate. At one point, I ate chocolate for several consecutive days (and I don’t really think it was that much…) and I got an allergic reaction (rash). From chocolate. And I was sure of it – because when I tried eating chocolate again a few days later, the rash came back. Now, I don’t even dare have any chocolate at home. That’s what my guilty pleasure reading means to me. Books that get me hooked on the first chapter, and – 4 hours later, it’s dark outside and I realize that I have a sh** load of work to do that I haven’t started yet. They don’t really contribute much to my linguistic/moral learning (like classic books, for instance, do), they are just addictive. This used to happen a lot when I was still in school, and that’s part of the reason I forced myself to stop reading almost completely.
- Genres: YA, fiction, romance, mystery, teen drama, you name it…
- Scholastic reading: Just like the name suggests, these are the books that school requires you to read. If the books were in English, I usually loved them. If I didn’t like them on the first round, I usually got around it after a few lessons of in-depth studying. For my last 2 years of school, in my English class I studied ‘1984‘ by George Orwell, the play ‘Death and the Maiden‘ by Ariel Dorfman, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire‘ by Tennessee Williams, amongst others. The first book is a must-read. You cannot die if you haven’t ever read ‘1984’. The other two plays also convey some universal underlying themes – recommend them too. Anyway, these are the books that I probably wouldn’t pick up, but that change my perception of the functions and morality of society. Reading and studying these books has also made me much more into classic books.
- Genres: Classic, Academic, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Sci-Fi (but not the YA kind of fiction), etc.
- Intelligent ‘bragging’ reading: My English proficiency is limited – which is okay, because that means that I have lots of room for improvement! However, this affects the range of books that I can read. When it comes to non-fiction and classic (or even classical) books which deal with much transcendent and ‘serious’ issues, I sometimes get lost following the plot. This is probably due to a) my English level, and possibly b) my cultural/social ignorance, which is quite possible. But, I believe these are the kind of books that actually broaden my linguistic and general understanding. I call it ‘bragging’ reading because reading these books makes me feel more intelligent than I actually am. I do believe that I will benefit greatly from reading classics, but that is really just my opinion.
- Genres: The same as the ones named for #2.
These are mainly the 3 types of reading facets that I normally come across. As of right now, I’m trying to read some guilty pleasure books, mainly classic and non-fiction, and also books written by inspiring people (entrepreneurs, professors, etc).
Now, what kind of reading facets do you have? I would love to hear your view!!
6 Comments
Pingback: Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – The Sapphire Blog
I usually read for escapecism, which is not that great. You can call it guilty pleasure or however you want.
But lately, I realised that non-fiction appeals to me, plus, I started to like classics more, now when I’m older. I want to read more of those genres in the future…
That’s awesome!! You’re opening yourself up more! (what I am still trying to do)
I have never thought of reading books in this way. Sometimes it does occur to me that I should read more nonfiction or more classics but I know that that will just make me want to read less. Now that I am back on my reading track and loving it, I am not going to jinx it. Because classics are hard to read.
But reading this is inspiring me to include some classics as well as nonfiction in my reading list. 🙂
Aww omg I’m so glad! Thank you so much for that comment! I was a bit doubtful when I posted this, but you just made me so relieved!
Haha. I know! Sometimes it’s so easy to lose one’s self in a book!