What lies between the covers of books?

Yes, I like to start with poems. This one is by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

“Notes on the Art of Poetry”

I could never have dreamt that there were such goings-on
in the world between the covers of books,
such sandstorms and ice blasts of words,
such staggering peace, such enormous laughter,
such and so many blinding bright lights,
splashing all over the pages
in a million bits and pieces
all of which were words, words, words,
and each of which were alive forever
in its own delight and glory and oddity and light.

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m a keen reader. Books are important to me and I’ve learned a tremendous amount from them. I’m not the only person who thinks this way, of course. Dylan Thomas, for one, was in love with the “delight and glory and oddity and light” to be found in books.

I’ve read more than 100 books a year for the past couple of years (since I’ve been tracking my reading on Goodreads), which is a lot more than most people. In fact, most Australians aged 14 and over read very little and reading is declining. It is my aim to encourage you to read, if not necessarily as much as I do, more than most people do. I believe that reading widely not only helps you to become a better student in English and other subjects (and who doesn’t want that?) but it can also help you to become a better person. That’s a pretty big and contentious claim. After all, there have been plenty of people who have read good books and done very bad things.

One of the reasons that reading tends to decline from age 14 is the pressure of high school. Students feel that they don’t have the time to read because of all of the study that they have to do, but I think this is both untrue (I have at least as much work to do as any students do, plus a family to look after and I manage to read a lot of books) and misguided. Almost all of the best English students that I’ve taught (and I’ve taught thousands of students) have been big readers.

So apart from mistaken perceptions, why else are people reading less? Well, one suggestion is that the internet, and particularly social media, is to blame, as suggested by this article:

I deleted my social media apps because they were turning me into an idiot

(I haven’t deleted my social media apps, though).

Some university professors have, in recent years, noticed problems with their students when it comes to attentiveness and focus when reading long and complex material. Elizabeth Randolph writes about it in this article:

Distracted Reading in the Digital Age

Just the way we organise our lives can make a difference. I do most of my reading on public transport, to and from school, but I also read while walking, and while watering the garden, and while my son is playing cricket (I look up when he’s batting or bowling). Here is some advice on being able to read more:

How to make 2017 the year you finally read more books

and

How I Tricked Myself Into Reading More Books

Also have a read of this article by Will Schwalbe (which in itself contains lots of enthusiastic recommendations for particular books to read): The Need to Read

Of course, reading books doesn’t do you a lot of good if you can’t remember what you’ve read, so here’s some advice on How to Remember More of What You Read, from Emily Underwood.

One of the books I read in the last few years (I usually have three or four on the go at any one time) is a collection of essays by the writer Neil Gaiman (perhaps best known for his Sandman graphic novels, but also for novels for adults like American Gods and novels for younger readers like Coraline). One of the pieces in it that I liked is this speech that he delivered in 2013, which I’d like you to have a read of:

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

When he was asked to choose 10 books to take with him to a desert island, these were the books Gaiman chose:

My Bookshelf, Myself: Neil Gaiman

So here is your next Medium writing task:

Write about your reading life and what you think about reading. Have your reading habits changed and why? Do you agree that reading is important? (You don’t have to agree with me.) What do you make of the Dylan Thomas poem above, or what Neil Gaiman says in his speech or any of the other links that I’ve provided? I would like you to include hyperlinks and images again plus two more requirements:

1. Some commentary on what you’ve been reading for the wider reading checklist challenge (identify which items your books are checking off) or from my reading lists.
2. Provide a desert island reading list of your own like Neil Gaiman’s one above. As he does, provide a sentence or two explaining why you’ve chosen each one.