In some ways, reading is an inherently anti-social activity. While parents and children may read together before the child can read on his or her own, most readers read in solitude. Perhaps there are other people in the room, but the experience of reading the words on the page happens between the reader and the book.
With the drastic increase in social media over the last few years, however, reading has become an increasingly social activity. Websites like Shelfari and Good Reads allow voracious readers to share reviews, chat with fellow fans and discuss all things literary. A recent article in the New York Times by Motoko Rich explored the idea of the private reader versus the public one.
As Rich suggests in her article, the explosion of social media has allowed readers from across the world come together. Book clubs are more popular than ever and book fan sites abound. But, at the same time, some readers feel intimately attached to a book. The story, the characters and their experience of reading it all “belong” to them in a way that makes the act of reading a private matter. 2010 Newbery Award winner Rebecca Stead offers her own feelings: “As a kid, a book was a very private world. I didn’t like talking about books with other people very much because it almost felt like I didn’t want other people to be in that world with me.”
So where, exactly, does that leave readers?
The social aspect of reading has its benefits. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool used to sell books and fan-written reviews can help reclaim readers reclaim a sense of populism from the critics. And yet reading remains a personal endeavor. Literature can be so very subjective and different books will mean different things to different people. Just because readers have the means to discuss books in a public place doesn’t mean they necessarily want to.
I’m torn myself. On the one hand, I love dissecting plotlines (especially from books filled with rich depths), arguing playfully about the author’s intent and sharing my love of books with my friends. One of the reasons I majored in English in college was the opportunity to engage in such discussions. On the other hand, I can completely understand Ms. Stead’s feelings. So much of my own reading occurs in solitude and I love feeling as if I’m getting lost in the literary world, that the events are taking place for me alone.
As technology and media continue to evolve, it will be interesting to see how those changes affect the experience of reading. Maybe, one day, e-readers will allow us to upload real-time comments and impressions so that someone in Boston and someone in Hong Kong can chat and read at the same time.
Until then, though, I’m going to continue to closely guard my favorite books, characters and worlds. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just for me.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
