on reading

The literate and always interesting Chan at the Bookish Gardener has a book blog, too -- Just a Reader, where she makes notes on her current reading. I look forward to checking it out.

Several months ago, somebody wrote an essay in the NY Times Sunday Book Review that merely being a reader was not enough, that there were too many people who were not critical enough in their reading, inferring a culture that praised reading more than in being engaged, skeptical readers. The author may have even put down the great books promotions by Oprah (it's been a while since I read the essay).

There was probably a good point in the essay, but it was overwhelmed by a certain snarkiness or condescension -- how can you enjoy a book if you are not critically aware, you great unwashed masses?

Not being a critic, and certainly being a major dilettante, flitting around books and subjects like the bees in my garden hovering above the flowers, I confess to a lifetime of being curious and bored. One feeds the other, and reading has always been a major vehicle for me to help with my restlessness and provide me with new worlds to explore.

Gardening helps, too.

Thanks to all good folk who write their thoughts down, who have reactions and share them, who are patient to teach us and encourage us.