There's a sanctimoniousness that's an undeniable part of the whole culture of reading that dictates that entertaining oneself with prose is somehow a worthier pursuit than most other activities, especially TV and film.
Indeed, reading is so revered as indicative of intellectualism or depth of character that we'll all know someone who frequently buys books that they never intend to read, to fill up the bookshelves in their house, because they think a busy bookshelf will give a particularly strong positive impression of the person they are (I'm actually sure that the book section in the erstwhile Fopp chain of stores catered directly for this market).
There's also a lot of this "read a fucking book!" attitude around at the minute.
Isn't this all a lot of nonsense, though? Reading, on the whole, is no worthier, or no better spent time, than watching TV.
Anyway, I was just thinking about this after reading a quote from Germaine Greer on the Guardian website:
Quote:
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I think some people are reading a whole lot more that they need to be. I think all these children banging themselves on the head with Harry Potter would be better off doing almost anything else. Why are we so sanctimonious and moralistic about reading?
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Thoughts?
