The Joy of Stories

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Recently, I've been thinking about things. While I kind of want to make a large post about it, it's usual for my interest to peter out as I get going, so I'll just try to say what I can. It pertains mostly to reading, though other forms of media fall under it too.

As you may have noticed from my constant posts on the subject, I have a particular obsession with books. Buying books has pretty much replaced my childhood/adolescent fixation on video games, though I'll admit that I still treasure video games and long to get back to them at some point. It's been slow going, what with budgeting myself and even replacing some of the books I previously got with what I feel are nicer, more informative editions. But in a short period - in the span of a couple recent weeks, it seems - books have won me over in a different way, though it's been some time coming, I guess.

You see, I've been spending a lot of time surfing the Internet not just looking for books to buy but reading ABOUT books. I feel that the more I know about the history of a book and its author, the more I enjoy it, which is why I guess I get so enthusiastically excited about getting new books. I'd also like to draw attention to a quote from the last episode of the popular yet controversial Game of Thrones TV series, spoken by the character of Tyrion Lannister:

"What unites people? Armies? Gold? Flags? Stories. There's nothing more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it."

Whether it's movies, video games, books, television, or anything else, nothing beats stories. We can't live without stories. Both directly and indirectly, I've been raised on stories, and I love finding them. As a result, I find that, as much as a good video game, there is an inestimable joy to reading - the pleasure of getting lost in a good tale well told (because I feel a good story depends on how it's told). I've made posts and topics in the past talking about my love of fantasy, and while that hasn't abated, I can't say that I don't favor any other genres any less. No matter what kind of book it is, I can get completely enthralled by it. To speak of some of my most recent selections, it's been wonderful to get pulled into Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and island survival adventures, or the rollicking bravado of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, or Charles Dickens's satirical genius in The Pickwick Papers, or even the sheer epic romantic ambition that is Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Even now, I'm thinking of what I'm going to read next, and I'm excited for it. I just can't get enough of it, and it's taken me so long to fully appreciate it, if I really have reached that point.

But the joy of stories can't be forced. While my high school education was inevitable, the concept of "required reading", though I guess it serves a purpose, rather irks me because I don't think you can make someone enjoy reading - it has to be something you find for yourself. What's more, I really do greatly enjoy old books, but that might not be to everyone's taste, so I would say that it's important to read books that interest YOU personally. Don't necessarily depend on what a bunch of old men have deemed worthy of the "Western Canon" - read whatever you can get your hands on, but do it with caution. Spend your time on good books.

I think there was more I was going to say, but I believe I've forgotten it already. Oh well. At least you have what I've started to get a discussion going, if you should so choose.

[Raven]

Required reading has always been hit or miss for me. And at times when I have had a lot of academic reading to do, I find it difficult to enjoy pleasure reading. I remember finishing a degree or two and having long duldrums of reading afterwards, like I simply had no appetite for it. I will say my appetite for reading does tend to come in waves.