Literacy

I have this theory that only five people read my blog. It is steeped in deep research and lots of time. No actually I just noticed that my view count has registered exactly five views for each of my last four blog posts. So hello you five people who actually read this, I didn't realize there were so many of you.

So the other day I was discussing with some people (one an English major and the other a previous English major) about how books seem to be dwindling in real taste or goodness. It's not to say that books of today aren't good. There are thousands upon thousands of great books, but there are also thousands upon thousands of bad books. But there is a reason that I mostly love classic books, they capture a certain something that I think a lot of literature is missing today. For me it's mostly description, I'm, one of those readers that craves intimate details and drool worthy description. By drool worthy I mean something along the lines of Margaret Mitchell's description of food in Gone With the Wind. Every time I read it I just want to eat the meals she described. Or in A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens uses the whole first few pages to give you description of how it was both the "best of times and worst of times" on the streets of France. Things like that just pull me in as a reader, I love knowing. Immaculate and unique detail are my favorite parts of a book. We determined there were several problems with the literacy of today. First there is technology, mainly the internet. The internet makes up for a large portion of why I am no longer as avid as a reader as I used to be, say like in middle school or elementary school where the majority of my free time was spent with my nose pressed in a book. I mean, there's certainly appeal in it. Why would one want to sit down and read a book when you could be scrolling through gifs on Tumblr or watching a new episode of Dr.  Who. Not to mention books to movies, which happens so often today. Movies made from books are kind of a double edged sword. You see, the books sells of that movie also increases but there are also about twice as many people saying "If I can see the movies then why should I read the books?" And there's also laziness. I think a lot of books lack description today because people are just too lazy to read through pages upon pages of description. They just want the story, in there and out of there fast. This is also where technology comes in, because any book (besides some larger and more older ones) can be condensed into a two hour movie. And it's sad to realize this, because I still want to cling to books. I have a kindle, but I only have it for means of not having hundreds of books taking up space in my dorm. And I always prefer to read books physically than I do on my kindle. And I love the internet and how it is growing everyday. It's a wonderful thing, and it brings people together from all over. I have a lovely pen pal who I met through the internet. I can see people's Youtube Channels, blog posts, and pictures through the internet, it's a way of sharing life and I love it. But I do not think it should make people forget how wonderful it also is to cuddle up with a good book in hands. And I don't know, life is weird, but reading is amazing. And I think reading is something everyone should have, and I think that the writing of today should start to encourage reading more, deeper meaning. In short what I'm saying is that books should come back to what they used to be, not only in nature of writing but also in nature of reading as well.

Fin.
-Keshia

Currently Reading Schulz and Peanuts by David Michealis