From to Oprah’s Book Club to Goodreads, reading has become a more social activity than ever before. But what about those people who still like to curl up with a book–alone? The New York Times examines the private reader:
Particularly with the books we adore most, a certain reader wants to preserve the experience for reflection, or even claim the book as hers and hers alone. Lois Lowry, an author of books for children and a two-time winner of the Newbery for “Number the Stars” and “The Giver,” said she recently read that Katherine Paterson, also a two-time Newbery winner and now the national ambassador for young people’s literature, had named “The Yearling,” by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, as the most influential book of her childhood. “I felt a twinge of ‘no fair, that’s mine!’ ” Ms. Lowry said. “I hastily backed off from that feeling because I know and love Katherine, and it’s O.K. that we share the same book.”
Do you read socially–on Goodreads, on Facebook, with a friend, or in a book club? What do you gain from the experience? If you prefer to read alone, why?
I can’t say much about recent developments is social reading as I’m the quintessential non-joiner, but will say that the Internet has significantly increased the availability of discussion about books. You can go online and find in-depth discussions on new fiction or reader reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Of course, the quality varies a lot, so you have to be selective about what you peruse, but I’m able to find material of just as much or greater interest than I have previously been able to find through traditional media such as reviews in periodicals. Now, when I read a review in The New York Times Book Review, I often think the reviewer is providing a milquetoastish, politically correct account of a book. When it comes to serious literature, I find you may be able to get a better picture of the strengths and weaknesses of a book on Amazon than you can from one person’s review in a periodical. Depending on the knowledge, experience, intelligence and artistic sensibilities of an online reviewer, you can sometimes find illuminations that may not have occurred to you and may not be available in print.