Reading a Good Book

Today I have spent some time considering the art of reading. I am currently reading The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey. It is good, even though the "F" word in used too much for my taste. The story is intriguing, and the blurb on the back of the book states that two of Sakey's books are already scheduled for movies. Do I sense a movie in the Daniel Hayes' book? Perhaps.

I am also reading A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. My son recommended the book to me for my students to read this upcoming school year. It is excellent, well-written, and thought-provoking. There is definitely going to be a lesson for me to learn in this book.

Is that to say that one book is worthwhile, and the other is not? No, of course not. There is a time and a place for different types of books. It's fun for me to read whodonits, and I will admit to being totally enamored of M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin books.

However, the other side of the story is what Barbara Kingsolver, author of the fantastic novel (and one of my favorites) The Poisonwood Bible, said about reading (and I paraphrase), when you have a world with Middlemarch (by George Eliot) in it, why waste your time reading a book you don't like?

And I think that is the answer. If you like what you're reading, you're not wasting your time, whether it is an old classic such as Middlemarch, a new classic such as A Lesson Before Dying, or a good summer read such as The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes. The important element, at least to me, is that a person reads and reads often.