Reading time: Less than 1 minute
This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post sharing Marcel Proust’s reflections on why we read…
When people ask me about my hobbies I always say, “reading.” I’ve been in love with reading since the age of 6 and have never found another activity that gives me so much joy and fulfillment. I read more than 52 books a year, as I report on this blog. (Here’s the half-list for 2016. I’ll post part two in late November or early December.)
I read — and enjoy — fiction and non- more or less equally. In the former category, my favourite genre is literary fiction; in the latter, I prefer memoir and books on neuroscience. A recent posting in the Brain Pickings blog shared reflections from Marcel Proust (pictured above) on why we read. Here is how Proust put it:
Reading, unlike conversation, consists for each of us in receiving the communication of another thought while remaining alone, or in other words, while continuing to bring into play the mental powers we have in solitude and which conversation immediately puts to flight; while remaining open to inspiration, the soul still hard at its fruitful labours upon itself.
Yes! That juxtaposition of solitude with the ability to share communication with another human being is exactly what I find so rewarding about reading.