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What you read reveals what you value This week’s column title is
taken from a line by British author Jeanette Winterson, one of my
favorite writers of all time. She wrote, “What you risk reveals
what you value” and this line appeared in two of her novels, one
of which is The Passion. Reworking it with the thrust of reading
would indeed reveal important facets about a reader.
For instance, if you browse through my
bookshelves, you would see how I value fiction novels more than
creative nonfiction. I never miss Douglas Coupland or Winterson
novels; I have all their books in my collection. I also collect
Virginia Woolf’s novels, along with some local novels that won in
writing competitions. I have anthologies of short stories with
different themes. I am a short story writer myself but as a reader,
I don’t know why I am drawn more toward reading novels. The poetry
collections in my shelves were gifts from friends, giveaways from
writer’s workshops, or bought because the writers are my friends.
(We writers support each other, even if we cross genres). It’s
rare that I buy poetry books but there have been some that caught my
interest. I also have some books on literary writing and criticism
that help with my scholarly work as a creative writer.
What are the other things in my collection? The
categories vary. As a lesbian feminist advocate, my shelves are
filled with books about gender, sexuality and issues connected with
those concepts. I like reading up on fiction and non-fictional
accounts of people from all parts of the globe who share the same
ideals as I do. As a film school graduate and teacher, I have
several media, ICT and film books in my collection. These are
heavily used in my teaching. As a child, I always loved reading
funny comic stories, so my shelves share space with some fun titles
like the Archie series up to some adult-oriented material in the
guise of the graphic novel category.
So there’s my collection. Now what does that
say about me? Theorize all you want, but I guess whatever conclusion
you arrive at, it will be the same conclusion I share with other
readers in this universe: like them, I value knowledge I get from
books. And why shouldn’t we? Books help us to understand the world
better, to cope with issues and concerns, and they broaden our minds
on every angle. Reading on a regular basis helps us hone ourselves
in terms of grammar and language usage, and it exposes us to
different stories of people like us or not like us. Again, diversity
is key.
That’s why it makes me wonder why there are
some people who don’t like reading. But I guess that’s another
kind of diversity I have to get used to, with our world getting
wired and all. I just hope people won’t stop reading good books,
that’s all.
Comments? Suggestions? E-mail libay.scribevibe@gmail.com.
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