To give you some context (thanks again for doing this) my assignment was basically to write about why I read.

>what place does classical literature have in a high-tech world
>What reasons for reading are there?
>What is your relationship with reading (and classical literature)
>How do you read
>What skills do you employ when approaching a work of literature beyond surface interest

thanks again!


	Why do we read? The most basic reason comes down to the fact that knowledge is power. Every bit of literature, no matter the genre, language or author, contains knowledge in some form. Thus, by reading, we give ourselves the ability to enact some sort of control or change over something in our life.
	Our modern culture is addicted to information. We have the Internet, the ultimate source of connectivity, and the biggest resource that’s ever been conceived in all of human history. We have online encyclopedias with information on what people had for breakfast, how to beat a video game, which movie grossed the most in the last hour, live streaming from across the world, and minute by minute updates of airline flights to name an infinitesimal amount of the various types of information available in the digital age. We also continually develop faster and more synchronized methods of staying in contact with this exponential growth of information.  10 years ago, the Internet was just being born, and the Google logo looked the same as the graphics on the screen of a game boy. Now, connectivity to the Internet is evolving from a luxury to a right as a human being. In this era of digitized high-speed information, what place does classical literature have? Classical literature is a way to remember the past by holding a paperback book, and looking back to a time when this sort of technology and culture was less than a dream, it hadn’t even been considered in fantasy. Classical literature is, and should always be, a benchmark for how far humankind has come, an inspiration for how far we can go, and a reminder of just what we are capable of.
	There are many different reasons to read a book, be it digital or physical, classical or modern. One would be simply for entertainment. There are many different ways to occupy oneself in the modern world, but none of them have the same feeling as curling up with a good book for a few hours. Another would be information, as many books are not fictional, but informative or instruction. Many people have made their living writing self-help books, and one must not forget the entire “________ for Dummies” series. Also, many read simply to pass the time. Whether or not a book is good or not does not matter on a long flight, so long as it’s engrossing enough that the passage of time turns into a blur. In addition to all of that, there are a select few who read before bed for the sole purpose of tiring their eyes. After an hour or so of reading line after line and their eyelids begin to droop, and they wander off to the land of dreams just that much easier.
	As a child, I loved to read. My large collection of younger fiction will attest to that, as well as personal testimonies from teachers who have had to take a book away from me because I enjoyed reading so much I would do it in the middle of class, under my desk, instead of paying attention to them. As I matured, so did my tastes in reading. I still enjoyed rereading my old books, but they took to short a time to read, and I moved on to the longer, and more engaging adult fiction. That occupied me through middle school, and through the beginning of high school. About midway through my freshman year, my reading began to drop off. I had a harder time finding fiction I really enjoyed, and I was not interested in the slightest (and still am not) in nonfiction. For the last few years, my reading has been at a minimum. I’ve kept up with a few series that were ongoing around the time that I stopped reading as much, and fortunately they are still ongoing today. My interest in Japanese culture began to drift over into my interest in reading, and so I moved on to graphic novels and Manga. Eventually that interest died out too, and I simply don’t read as much literature of any sort anymore. Currently, I still have the ability to read when I’m intrigued and interested in a book, but the problem is finding a book that’s interesting enough. My current reads are nonexistent, I’m waiting for the newest releases to the Inheritance cycle, by Christopher Paolini, and the Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik.
	Classical literature I’ve never really had a liking for. I’ve never had a problem reading it, but I’ve never enjoyed it or found it particularly interesting enough to care about the message that is undoubtedly present (there’s always a message, even if the writer didn’t intend one). I’ve certainly given it enough chances, but at this point, I am of the opinion that no matter how many times I attempt to enjoy classical literature, I just simply don’t like it enough to do so.
	My reading habits were rather erratic. Basically, the goal back then was to read everywhere, because I always had a good book. The many scoldings I received for impolitely burying my nose in a book will certainly attest to that. Nowadays, I’m of the same opinion, when I read. If a book is interesting enough, I’ll read it in the car, in the bathroom, under my desk, outside, or inside if it’s raining. That’s one of the fun parts about reading, you can do it anywhere, including in a concert hall during a performance.
	Here, I think I may have found my problem with my current lackluster interest in reading, or perhaps that’s just my way of doing things. Either way, my approach to literature does not go beyond surface interest. If a book does not interest me, I can slog through it but I’m never going to want to read it, or find enjoyment.