Bryan Appleyard says, “Reading almost all books currently being published is even worse for your soul than watching home makeover shows or eating Yakult. People should not read more, they should read better.”
Frank Wilson agrees in part, saying we should read better writing and more carefully.
What do you think? If you agree that we should read better writing, how do you follow that advice?
I recently read Gene Edward Veith’s “Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature” (excellent book!). He believes that the more we (Christians) read, “the more [we] will develop a taste for excellence. So maybe reading more leads to reading better writing.
I’m finding myself reading better writing as I get older in large part because I’m assigning it to my children and have to keep up! I want them to know excellent writing and to come to love and prefer it to much of what’s on the bestseller lists.
I think we forget, though, that every generation has its bad writing. Usually, it doesn’t stand the test of time like the better writing does. Obviously our generation has the means to print more of every kind of writing – good and bad — than in times past.