For this week’s Weekly Geeks, Suey asks:
There seems to be a bit of a theme going around the bookish blogopshere this past little while. Have you noticed many posts and lists and ponderings about books from our past? To go along with this trend, for this Weekly Geek installment, I’m asking you to think back to the moment when you realized “I am a reader!” The moment you felt that desire to read everything! The moment you knew you were different than most of those around you and that this reading thing was for real.
While I’ve always been a bookworm, my love for books and reading has grown stronger over the years. I don’t remember learning how to read, and I don’t remember any “aha” moment as a child. I just remember always reading.
While I don’t have any childhood memories to write about, I do have a pivotal moment as an adult that I’d like to share. I’ve talked about it before, usually whenever Lisa See’s books are mentioned, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it as a Weekly Geeks post.
In 2006 I went back to school to get my Master’s in History. Not for any particular reason, but just to do it. Cal Poly had a brand new MA program in History and I wanted to be a part of it. I was still working full-time for the County (the same job I have now) and the plan was to take 1 class a quarter for 5 years.
Boy, did I read a lot that quarter. But the thing was, I didn’t read anything for pleasure. It was all stuffy academic texts. Occasionally in class we’d discuss historical fiction or graphic novels (such as Maus), and I discovered that the majority of students (and the professor) looked down on these types of books, claiming they had no place in the study of history. I felt a bit out of place, and I was starting to not like the ivory tower attitude I was constantly encountering.
So I made it to the end of the quarter (and I got an A- in the class, for the record) and I even registered for my next class. Then I had two weeks off. And I read Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which is a historical novel set in China. We had read about foot-binding in class, but See’s book brought the practice vividly (and gruesomely) to life, something the articles never managed to do. And I realized that I enjoyed that one book way more than anything I had read in the past three months…and that it was informative as well as entertaining. And then I thought long and hard about what I was doing, and whether I wanted to spend 5 years surrounded by people who didn’t seem to appreciate books like See’s. And then I dropped the class and quit the Master’s program.
Because I realized that I was a reader, not a historian. I would much rather spend my free time reading for pleasure than studying. And I’d much rather spend my money on books (and travel. Okay, and shoes.) than on another degree. (Of course, if someone wanted to pay my way through library school, I wouldn’t say no.)
I firmly believe that you can gain just as much from fiction as you can from non-fiction…and that not all non-fiction has to be stuffy, academic texts. I’d much rather be reading the books I choose, and reading because I feel like it, not because it’s assigned. I’ve read more in the past four years than I have at any other time in my life. I’ve become more involved in blogging, and in the book blogging community. I’m hanging out with people who appreciate books and what they bring to our lives. I’m happy.
I’m a reader.
Lovely post. And might I suggest a bio of Imelda Marcos – it would combine history, pleasure, shoes, the whole enchilada.
.-= rhapsodyinbooks´s last blog ..Readalong: Review of “The Night of the Iguana” by Tennessee Williams =-.
I agree! You can learn something from all kinds of books. I really didn’t realize how much of a reader I am until we moved to France and books in English weren’t readily available to me.
I remember starting my MSc in the History and Philosophy of Science and finding Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Pyncheon’s V on the reading list. It was a revelation. Up until then I did a science degree where we were only given textbooks which I didn’t bother reading. I agree with you that there is so much you can learn from fiction as long as it’s well written and researched.
.-= chasing bawa´s last blog ..Favourite Writers: Manga =-.
It was the most incredible relief when I finished my undergraduate degree and suddenly found I was free to read WHATEVER I WANTED TO READ. I had sort of forgotten how good leisure reading could be…
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..Review: Rapture Ready, Daniel Radosh =-.
I always thought I’d like history too; but like you it’s the reading that I enjoy, the pleasure reading, not the weighty historical texts and memorization of facts.
.-= Trisha´s last blog ..Choices: How I Wuss Out and Ask for Advice =-.
I remember you mentioning this when I reviewed “Snow Flower.” I think it was for the best that you realized grad school wasn’t your thing. And like you, I don’t ever remember not reading. I’m so glad you’re a reader and that book blogging is fulfilling that “need” in you.
.-= Jenners´s last blog ..Question of the Week: 5 Books for 10 Days =-.
It is really true that reading is really for pleasure and you really get to learn something from them too. I dnt think it is ok to “look down” on any kind of book at all.
Great post…
.-= Veens´s last blog ..Funny! =-.
Great post! I have my BA in History and if it weren’t for the reading I did for my English minor and and the travel I did to other places in the world the whole well roundedness of my education would never have come together as well as it did and this post certainly proves that point!
.-= Amused´s last blog ..First – Timer =-.
“I firmly believe that you can gain just as much from fiction as you can from non-fiction…and that not all non-fiction has to be stuffy, academic texts.” And THIS is why I love Historical Fiction so much. I do love lots of non-fiction as well, but you can learn SO MUCH MORE from an Historical Fiction novel that immerses you in a time period than you can from reading the facts of that time period in a textbook.
.-= Heather J.´s last blog ..Black Hills =-.
Academic snobbishness annoys me, too. Luckily I’m in art history instead of regular history, which according to most academics is a fluff major anyway.
I would say it’s a good thing you dropped out–grad school is painful. You shouldn’t subject yourself to it unless you absolutely love it.
.-= heidenkind´s last blog ..The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi =-.
I totally agree with the difference between history and historical fiction. There is a huge difference between reading about something and experiencing it with someone through reading. I also have a lot of experience with the “snobbery” of academia. I almost (SO almost) have my BA in Enligsh and could scream if one more person bashes “popular” fiction (meaning, of course, that anyone outside of academia actually reads it) or if I have to read one more awful book because of it’s “value.”
Wow, Lisa See has had MAJOR impact on your life! Glad to hear you’ve made the right choice
How many people dare actually say they’re happy?! Good for you!
.-= Gnoe (on Graasland)´s last blog ..In the Mood for a Read-a-thon (Easter Sunday Salon 04-04-2010) =-.