Last night we explored the question “Do we still read for pleasure”? Guest, Liz Fleming, and moderator, Jon Eben Field, encouraged conversation around questions such as what it is that makes reading truly pleasurable? Is it the physical feeling of a book in our hands? Is it how the author made us feel as we read the words that they wrote? Or is it the escape that reading offers us?
Liz, an editor, author and avid reader began our conversation by sharing one of her first memories of reading as a child. Every night before bed, her father would read a chapter from Burgess bedtime stories (http://www.thorntonburgess.org/ThorntonW.Burgess.htm)
Her love of books grew through her daily anticipation to read the next chapter and find out what Jimmy skunk’s secret really was. Liz participates in many non traditional book clubs and writes for a variety of publications including Niagara this Week and her travel column in the Toronto Star.
Liz and Jon further encouraged us to explore our own thoughts around why we read and how reading has evolved in our own lives. We explored the addition of e-books and how technology such as the I-pad and Kindle has changed our own reading patterns and how it will change the reading patterns of future generations.
What do you read for pleasure whether it is a book, newspaper or favourite column or magazine? How are you encouraging your children to read for pleasure? Is reading a lost art and why does it matter?
