Reading for Fun vs. Reading for Educational Purposes
I assumed everyone read for the same reason as me until I encountered someone who thought very differently
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Many years ago, I joined a Book Club. While perusing the shelves at my local book shop (RIP Borders, you are still dearly missed), I noticed a poster for a new book club that another customer was setting up. Curious, and never having attended one before, my mum and I went along to the first meeting. Borders were hosting in the sense that we could use a large, comfortable group of sofas, and naturally, we bought copies of the chosen books from there.
That first meeting largely dealt with the mechanics of the group. The lady who had gathered us there seemed a little overwhelmed by the ten people who had shown up and was quick to insist that she would not be a leader per se, we would all be equally in charge. Naturally, not everyone who was there that first evening continued to attend, the person who started it herself only came to a few meetings before moving on, but over time we became a good little group.
When we lost Borders, members were quick to offer up their living room instead and we weathered the change easily. Eventually, we went our separate ways, but I enjoyed our time together and gained a lot from it. The most enjoyable part of the group, without a doubt, was the debates, and one of the most common debates was reading for entertainment vs. reading for education.
Personally, I read entirely for entertainment. The world can be a difficult place in which to live and I look for similar things in books that I do in movies or TV shows. I have no sense of ‘guilty pleasures’, only regular pleasures.
One of the other members of the group read purely for educational purposes, for him, the pleasure in any story came second to what he could learn. I find this admirable, but not aspirational. A few of the book choices made by the group were quite dense, serious, bleak, novels that I found near-impossible to read, however, that gentleman preferred those, it’s all relative.
I don’t think there is a right or wrong, it doesn’t matter why you read if you do. I do believe it should be enjoyable on some level, there’s no use slogging through something dull with no redeeming features.
What drives you to read? Enjoyment, education, or both?
