Reason behind reading novels
The reason behind reading novels - Just for Fun
Novels are of many types viz. classic, comedy, tragedy, detective, romance, etc.,
Interest in reading a particular type of novel, varies with people. One should realize that a novel or a book should be read just for the sake of its story or its content. But all those who read novels are not reading on their own interest. About five out of 10 people read novels for a different purpose.
Some of them are discussed below.
Some people feel that reading novels is a superior kind of activity and they feel energized after reading them.These kind of people always carry two big books, wherever they go. If a person finished a novel before others could even be aware of it, then he thinks that he has attained the salvation in his life.
Some people read novels just for the sake of telling others that they have the 'habit' of reading novels. They are proud of telling like that. Suppose a person having no interest or knowledge in novels, was caught between two other persons, whose' only job was to read novels in their free time, then the situation would become unexplainable. He would be treated as an illiterate guy who came from a jungle and he would hear all strange words and odd character names from them. They would be arguing about the story of the novel. The truth would be that none of them would have understood the story properly.
Some people say that the reason behind reading novels is to develop the english vocabulary. These kind of people can be seen often in many college hostels, lying in their bed, having an Oxford dictonary in one hand and a novel in the other hand.
There are also people who got temptation towards reading novels just by seeing their friends. But these people wont carry on this new habit for long as they are more tempted to sleep whenever they cross the first few pages of the novel. The author of the novel is the more responsible person for making these guys sleep. He will try to explain a simple action in more complicated words which cant be understood without the help of atleast two dictionaries for an average person. He tries to frame a paragraph from just a single sentence. This makes the reader difficult to understand the conveyed meaning and just closes his eyes(sleeps) in order to escape from the situation.
The corollary is also true. That is, some people choose big and fat books for sleeping pills. If they want to sleep they would just start to read the first page and by the end of that page they would have started snoring. They also use the very same book as their pillow.
So friends, don't get carried away by seeing a person carrying a big book in his hand. The purpose of carrying that book may be totally different from what you think.
A similar article by Sunil K Poolani
Question of existence
There are people who publish books. There are people who sell books. And there are people who really read books. Finally, there are people who pretend to read books. You can see the last ilk all over around you: in malls, in snazzy coffee shops, in airports… Nothing worrisome, as long as the books are sold (see, I am a publisher).
What amuses me is the kind of books they carry with them these days. No, not Archer, Huntington, Sachs or even our desi Chetan Bhagat or Robin Sharma, but great classicists. I read a report sometime back which said George W Bush has been advised by his spin doctors to carry Albert Camus’ The Outsider while on vacation so that he will look an intellectual.
A White House spokesman said Bush “found it an interesting book and a quick read,” and talked about it with aides. “I don’t want to go too deep into it, but we discussed the origins of existentialism.”
I haven’t started laughing since then. The French existentialist should be turning in his grave, crying why he wasted his life writing all those classics.
Sunil K Poolani is Executive Director and Publisher, Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd, Mumbai
Original link: http://frogbooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/of-raw-life-math-and-show-off.html