Comments on: What is Reading?

By: Pearl

Pearl — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:13:42 +0000

If we read a book and forget that we read it, is that the same as never having read it?

If we write a book and forget we wrote it, is that the same as never having written it?

If we take a bite and forget we ate it, is that the same as never having eaten?

jb says: Depends, Pearl. Was it forbidden fruit?

By: Jim Murdoch

Jim Murdoch — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:12:41 +0000

I’m not sure your article answers the question in your title (if it was even intended to) but both the title and the article intrigued me. I’ll probably end up blogging about them myself to work out my feelings. I have an awful memory (short-term and long-term) and although I’ve never forgotten a novel I’ve written I can’t say the same for poems or short stories. I can read a paragraph though and forget it immediately. So I had to read your whole blog a few times for it to sink in.

Your second paragraph brings up the issue of how we read as opposed to what reading is. Can you read Proust the same way as Tom Robbins? A lot to think about. Nice post.

jb says: I can’t read Tom Robbins, Jim.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:47:31 +0000

To ask “what is reading” is a little like asking what is living. Unless you are blessed (?) with a photographic/encyclopeadic memory, then you pass from day to day forgetting most of what has happened to you in the past. Yet the memories are there, locked in your sub-conscious and all of your experiences are a part of who you are today.

By: Suzan Abrams

Suzan Abrams — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:47:31 +0000

What an interesting post, John.
But how about the drama of the memory.

When asked to name my favourite books, I appear to recall only the habitual few. I forget the many remarkable tales which had changed my perceptions.

Bates & Henry Williamson with their famous country tales slipped my mind for several years. One day, a certain scene brought it all back to my delight. I did feel remorseful that I had forgotten something beautiful.