"A girl I once caught reading Fahrenheit 451 over my shoulder on the subway confessed: "You know, I'm an English lit major, but I've never loved any books like the ones I loved when I was 12 years old." I fell slightly in love with her when she said that. It was so frank and uncool, and undeniably true."
I found an article about how the books we read when we were little will always trump the ones when we're older...Because we're learning about life from these books. It's an awesome article.
When Books Could Change Your Life: Why What We Pore Over At 12 May Be The Most Important Reading We Ever Do
2 comments:
I appreciate the article, but I don't agree with it. Honestly, I don't remember too many books from age 12 and younger. I think that fact that I learned to love to read is what has really affected my life so much. But the books that I was reading - Babysitter's Club, Sweet Valley twins, really haven't stayed with me. I have no desire to go back and read those books for nostalgia's sake. The books that have really affected my life are books I've read beginning in high school - the same type of literature that I read now. A Tale of Two Cities, The Awakening, The Poisonwood Bible, East of Eden, These is My Words, Cold Mountain - these are some of the stories that have sunk into my soul.
The author of the article implies that the books we read now are less life changing because we read more of what we "should" be reading and less for pleasure. That's certainly not true for me.
I definitely understand and somewhat agree with what you're saying. I think the reason I loved the books so much that I read when I was little was because they were my first experiences with reading: I was transformed into a different world, the characters became my best friends, etc. Nothing beats a first love. I'll be honest though. I went back and read a Judy Blume book that when I was 10, I swore had changed my life. After reading it, I laughed. I do not suggest going back and reading your favorite books when you were little, but the memories are sweet and that feeling I got from reading when I was 10 is a lot different than now. Although now, it's still love, just the grown up kind.
Post a Comment