Sunday, June 12, 2011

Blog post #1 "good readers and good writers"

In this short article Nabokov states that a good reader is more of a re-reader.  By saying this, he is suggesting that the effort it takes to actually read and understand the material takes away from the enjoyment of the story or topic of the writing.  He compares it to a painting.  You don't have to do anything but enjoy a painting, where reading takes work before you can enjoy.  I also liked the list of things that makes a good reader.  He said to pick at least 4 of the 10 things.  I don't really consider myself a good reader, or a good writer for that matter.  I guess thats why I'm in this class.  I'll probably refer to this list of things that makes one a good reader a number of times in the future.  I tend to lose interest when I read and I hope this list will help me in that area.

image from http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/vladimir-nabokov-writing-in-bed.jpg

Here is a link to some quotes by Vladimir Nabokov
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. NoelJune 15, 2011 at 1:52 AM

    Hi Stephen
    I think you did well addressing what Nabokov said about being a good reader. Although the list he gives in the article is more like a quiz he would ask students what they thought made a better reader but he personally felt that only part of the list made a good reader. The reader who has imagination, memory, a dictionary and some artistic sense. I used to hate reading too but it is more about finding an author or a book that is really enjoyable to you and your tastes. Now I have bookshelves piled with books all over my house. Just don't give up on trying to find a book that really speaks to you!
    ~Noel

    ReplyDelete
  2. seanmmosherJune 15, 2011 at 2:56 PM

    Hey Stephen,
    I enjoyed reading your first journal post. I would like to say that I completely agree with you when you say that it is important to re-read sentences over again. I think that re-read sentences can show you as the reader things you might have missed before or maybe a different message then when you first read it. I am also not a good writer, but I try to read often and find that things I enjoy in life or thing I like to learn more about are more interesting to read for me at least. Maybe you should try that out.

    Sean Mosher

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kathryn ElaineJune 15, 2011 at 7:10 PM

    I would have to agree completely with the re-reader statment. Not only must someone first get into the book but they must also figure out the configuration of sentance structure, verb tenses and characters. Getting through that can make it difficult to fully appreciate a book on the first read so that has made me think more when I've been reading lately as I like to read in my free time anyway. Nice first blog!
    -Katie Adams

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)