I am an old book lover. I love the fragile pages that might float away like tissue paper under the savagery of my fingertips. I love the thick yellow paper that smells of industry and its revolution. I love the grainy textured covers with the smooth sunken letters. I love the indentations of each letter side by side to form the title. I love the re-releases with their additional resources and pages of footnotes. I love the elegance, the charm, the outrageous oppression, the fighter, the customs, the wardrobes, the manners, the landscapes of English country sides. Did I say that I am a lover of old books? The physical book doesn’t even have to be old, though that’s a bonus. What I mean is that most of my preferred reading was written before our century.
So I am spreading this gospel with much sympathy.
WHY YOU (WE) SHOULD READ MODERN LITERATURE
Reason #1. Don’t Be Spoiled Milk
The most immediate benefit of reading modern literature is gauging the freshness of our own writing. If you had never smelled fresh milk, how would you recognize the sour? Maybe every writer is, subconsciously, taking in the same methods, aesthetics and values of their time. Each writer huddles over his journal or sits stern in front of his laptop, convinced that he is writing, inventing, cultivating! his own original style. No, no, it just won’t do. Read the new stuff. Some of them will be tomorrow’s classics.
Reason #2. There Are New Things Under the Sun
Some of us have been brought up to believe that everything has already been done, and history holds a history of all men’s histories. True, most actions, motivations, passions, obsessions, guilts, and romances have been played out on the world stage. But tell me, did Sophocles deal with this?
A Text Between Two People
Me: Hey, need to talk to you. Give me a call later, please.
Other person: Hey you.
Me: Hey, there. How’s it going?
Other person: It’s pretty good I guess.
Me: Are you able to give me a call or no?
Other person: (Insert long silence of a few hours)
Me: Okay then.
Hmm, how might our protagonist handle this?
We look to literature, after all, not only to entertain, but to educate us on the nature of man, the nature of the beast, the nature of the world, or all of the above. Would we stop collecting wisdom? Would we take the ancients only, rendering useless the lessons and stories of our day? When we dismiss modern literature, aren’t we dismissing ourselves?
Reason #3. Mirrored Words
We’ve all heard of mirrored images, but I’m speaking here of mirrored words. We have all been affected by a passage, sentence or word that mirrored our own feelings to perfection. Writers have been coming up with thousands of new ways to say everything. Who knows how many beautiful, moving, perfect words are out there waiting for you today. Know the jewels of your era. Love them while they are alive. For once!
Reason #4. The Grandchildren, or, Were You Even Relevant?
When your grandchild asks how you, a reader, were affected by the writing of so and so when it was published, you’ll have some idea who the hell she’s even talking about. You can’t keep saying, “I read Emily Dickinson” forever and ever. When they ask you how you reacted to The Book Thief, you damned sure better have an answer, and a good one. You’d better go over to your bookshelf and pull down your old underlined and bookmarked copy. It better look used.
Reason #6. Variety Is the Spice of Life
Just like with my books, I may need a separate room for my shoes. I won’t bore you here with the delicious details for why I love shoes and their transformative power, or the way they remind me of the good in the world, or their stubbornness and eagerness to please. My point is this: variety keeps us excited. It creates vibrations in the bloodstream. It makes our eyes dilate. Variety is the dessert of life. You may not know it, but exposure to sameness day in and day out leads to mental lethargy. To mental moldiness. You want your brain to smell of swamp water?
Reason #7. You Won’t Bore Your Guests
Besides this, when your friends come to your house and browse your bookshelves, they’d like to have the reassurance that they haven’t been visiting the home of a long dead ghost who doesn’t realize he’s dead. Do your bookshelves reassure others that you’ve been alive at some point during this century, or the last? Is there something for everyone to admire? Believe it or not, most people don’t like pulling an old book from a shelf and caressing their chest with its dusty pages. Weirdos.
I’m not suggesting that you shop for books with others in mind, but that you are keeping an open mind to what’s making waves in the literary world. As for me, I read the New York Times Book Review. The reviews themselves are their own form of literature. They are in-depth and varied in scope, they help me to narrow down my choices as time is precious, and sometimes they just give me a taste of the style, themes and voices of my time. Gotta start somewhere.
Great points. I’ve been trying to branch out and read what’s popular lately. Some of it is disappointing, but every now and then you’ll hit a gem (like The Book Thief!) that makes it worth it.
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Yes, absolutely! I couldn’t imagine having missed that book. Thanks for commenting.
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I love this. Maybe it’s because I have always been a person stuck in my ways and have recently realized that humans need to always be growing and looking for more knowledge. So it’s natural to want to read new literature as well. (Though the old stuff is good too)
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Always growing is right! Sometimes that extra push is tough, but it’s always worth it right? 🙄 Good to hear from you.
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Aha I love this! I actually chuckled when you talked about bringing out the annotated copy of the book thief for the grandchildren – woman on train next to me looks thoroughly confused
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Yes! I’m so happy to hear that 😄 I feel like a winner, no lie. Thanks for your comment darling.
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Agreed! I’m reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde currently, and while the wording is sometimes difficult to understand- I love the story and can’t get enough of it (:
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I actually just bought a biography of Oscar Wilde! Who know when I’ll get to it, but yeah 😀
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That’s cool that you’re wanting to branch out more! My favourite genre tends to be YA series, I just get so sucked in with them 😂 It’s good for everyone to branch out more and try different books. Even if we don’t enjoy them, at least we can say we tried 🙂
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I definitely don’t believe in wasting my life reading a book that I don’t enjoy, but it really is good to try new things. I was always hearing about amazing modern books and never had a clue. A try, as you say, is worth a shot.
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Could not agree more with this and your seven points Lyz! 🙂
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Thanks Professor. You’ve always got tons of references to such variety of reading in your writing. I know you’re all over the map, which is a great thing.
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Oh, thank you! I am all over the map. Haha! I guess that’s what makes me true to my nature, my family DNA; a genuine hedonistic Bohemian that’s for sure! Give me the marrow. Don’t leave a drop! 😉
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Great post, Lyz. 🙂 This reminds me that I need to pick up a book and soon because sadly I think my brain might indeed smell of stagnant water. And whatever the smell of child rearing is (dirty diapers?). 😛
I am tempted to go book shopping now (a weakness), but I think I have plenty of books to tackle here at home. I bought them all with great intentions of devouring them immediately, but then they were shoved aside by to-do lists and mental exhaustion. So sad!
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I know what you mean. There’s always a list of things trying to get in the way of reading. I’m certainly with you. I shouldn’t buy another book until I’ve gone through more of the ones I’ve got!
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It’s hard to resist though, right? They are so appealing, calling out to bought and cared for and loved.
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I’ve actually always loved going back and forth between a classic and something contemporary. I studied abroad so the reading assignments were different and I still feel like I have lots of catching up to do!
While I love that line about visiting a ghost who doesn’t realize he’s dead (LOL), I always say read what you love. Life’s too short!
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The catching up list never ends, right? I always had a dream to study abroad. What an awesome opportunity. I’m jealous! Where did you go abroad?
I am a total believer in reading what you love. I’ve tossed aside many a book. I just think we have to keep an open mind to giving other things a try. As you say, life’s too short. No of us should be wasting time on stuff we can’t stand. We’ve got enough of that in adulthood! 🙂
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I actually grew up in Malaysia! It has a British-based education system. Came here to go to college and then ended up working, marrying, and oh well. 🙂
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C’est la vie!
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Excellent post Lyz! I actually find myself reading too much new stuff and not enough classics sometimes. New releases are so exciting and the bookish community is definitely an influence for why I reach for new books. However when they’re not good, it’s so disappointing!
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It makes a lot of sense to enjoy being absorbed in the book community. I never thought about that actually. I meet people who love classics but I don’t know how much community they have it there, or how energized it would be. There’s something to be said for the anticipation of a release date and experiencing it with friends. I should update this post with your additional reason! ☺
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Yay I helped!!! 😀
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