What Makes You A Well-Read Person? by Rambling Raven
By Raven • Mar 16th, 2009 • Category: Rambling Raven •
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What Makes You A Well-Read Person? by Rambling Raven
Recently, I have been contemplating the question: What makes one well-read? Is it the number of books you read, or is it what you read? I know a few individuals who can put away two to three novels a week. However, the books they read are mostly contemporary works of fiction. Some read a few genres heavily, while others are loyal to only a few authors. These folk I don’t consider “well-read,” I do consider them prolific readers. Honestly, they can tell me everything I want to know about very specific authors or genres, but they have no clue what Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Ralph Ellison, or Jean Toomer wrote.
Several years ago, I taught world literature to high school sophomores. The sighing and eye-rolling I got every time I presented them with a new piece of literature was almost comical. They wanted to know why they had to read Romeo and Juliet, The Canterbury Tales, and Greek Mythology. Of course we were mandated by the school board to expose the students to those classics but they didn’t want to hear that. The students wanted to read what they wanted to read. And usually they wanted to read novels that were deemed “inappropriate” by the school board. I had to explain to my students that part of being educated and well-read was being exposed to great works of literature. I told them that people who were considered well-read have read works by Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Dickens, among others. And if it was not for the old classics many of our contemporary novelists wouldn’t have a shoulder to stand on.
I have come to realize that I am as guilty as those students who were so reluctant to read classic literature and those friends who refuse to read outside of their comfort zone. Aside from the little snippets of literature that I have had to teach from text books, I am far from being what I consider a well-read person. My definition of being well-read is someone who has read literature from a variety of genres and authors. I also consider a person well-read, if they have tackled many of the books that are considered classic works of literature. And although, I will read from nearly any genre, I have not been faithful to reading the classics.
This year I am dedicating my time to reading at least one classic work of literature once a month. Now, there probably are a million versions of what people deem as “classic literature.” My ideas of classic literature are those books that you find on “must read” lists. I am talking about books that you would find on lists recommended by colleges, libraries and think-tanks. It is almost embarrassing to me that I consider myself someone who loves to read but have never seriously read: Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Camus, Faulkner, The great Russian writers, the great African and Caribbean authors, Virginia Woolf, Steinbeck, Jack London, Hemingway, etc. Now, many of those authors I have been exposed to by reading excerpts from their books. And because so many of them have books that are famous, have been turned into movies or are quoted from frequently I feel that I know all I need to know about them. For example: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is so well known that I have always thought why bother to read it. I have seen the movie version, the stage play and even the cartoon spoofs. I can only imagine what a great piece of literature I have been missing out on. There must be a reason why such a story has withstood the test of time.
I am on a personal mission to read all the great works from the Harlem Renaissance. There are so many authors beyond Hurston and Hughes that I should know. I consider the Harlem Renaissance the dawn of extraordinary African American literature, yet I have only read about 10% of the novels from that time period. There were a lot of creative individuals from that time period that I need to know.
So, can I consider myself a serious reader, if I have yet to truly tackle many of the greatest novels that have ever been penned? The whole reason to read is to broaden one’s horizon. Reading gives you insight into lives and experiences beyond your own. The human experience crosses time, racial, class and gender barriers. I can live and grieve with the gothic heroines of yesteryear as much as I can with the characters of contemporary fiction. Have I done myself a disservice by continually putting those thick old classics on the back burner? I think so. I must get out of my head the silly notion that some books that are required reading for the classroom will not be something I will want to read for recreation. Those classics are just as entertaining and fulfilling as the books I grab for a lazy Sunday afternoon. After all in many cases they have stuck around for hundreds of years. They wouldn’t have withstood the passage of time if they weren’t engrossing reads. And after all isn’t the reason we read is to be pulled in by a great story.
Do you consider yourself a well-read person?
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Raven is an educator with a B.A. in Psychology and a M.A. in Education. She has been an avid reader since childhood. Her favorite genres are mystery, suspense, and horror, although she will give any genre a try. She is a life long resident of Chicago. Her love of books opened her mind to people, places and events far beyond her Chicago home. Reading helped to shape her world and her opinion of the events that took place within it. No matter what demands her career requires of her, she has always found time to read and write in a journal. Along with reading and journaling, she loves to watch the sunset, and discuss hot topics with family and friends. She loves baseball, horror movies, mysteries, listening to music from every corner of the world and expressing her view of the latest books with the women of APOOO.
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Hey Raven,
Brava on your post this morning. I have been called an ecclectic reader because I will read almost any and everything. Jane Austen, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Eric Jerome Dickey, Wayne Dyer, Donna Hill, and Brandon Massey are just a few of the books waiting patiently on my nightstand. My mood determines what I’ll read and when.
Over the years, I have made it a point to read at least three or four classics a year. But I like your idea of reading a classic a month. Last month my daughter read To Kill A Mockingbird for her English class. She was the first kid in the class to finish the book, and as soon as she was done, she started fussing at me for not making her read it sooner. She’s 13. LOL
Guess what I’ll be picking up to re-read in a couple of weeks?
Great post.
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I am quite eclectic as well and I love the classics, I also love literary and contemporary fiction and will give almost any genre a try…on a plane ride back from Tucson last week, I read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, it was entertaining…and different for a change…growing up, almost all my elders were well-read, reading the bible, classics, newspapers, current fiction, non-fiction and it seems to blessedly have trickled down…
Blessings!
angelia
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I read a lot, from a lot of different genres, it is now my time to tackle the “classics”. I am on a mission. I have my little Kindle 2 and I am downloading the classics like crazy. Many are free and a lot more are under two bucks. I am determine to read these books in between my contemporary novels. Then perhaps I will consider myself “well-read”.
Hey Raven…I read a lot of the classics 30 years ago in high school and college…now if you ask me what most of them were about I can’t remember for the life of me…maybe one day when I retire I will go back and read some of my favorite ones. These days when I read it’s for pleasure…primarily to be entertained…empowered…and sometimes enlightened. With everything going on, it’s hard to be well-read when it comes to the classics, but if you ask me what’s going on in the world…with the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, et al…I could probably tell you. So much so someone was asking about what was in the stimulus package and I knew…the person said…’wow you actually read that stuff.’ Dayum skippy it’s MY MONEY AND I WANT TO KNOW how it’s being spent…and along the same lines I’m mad as hell at AIG but there’s not a dayum thing I can do about it…maybe I shouldn’t be so well read when it comes to the news/non-fiction arena.
Good point Yas, my husband only reads newspapers, journals and the like and he is very well read and knows what is going on in the world, I guess someone who only reads classics would not be well read either…hmmm they would simply be ‘classically’ read…obviously, I on know…
Blessings!
angelia
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Raven..I read a lot of those books your calling the classics when I was very young. Those were the books in the house where I grew up. I am so happy I was exposed to those works before reading all this Urban stuff..as I have no idea how that would have shaped who I am.
I believe reading is like eating. What you take in..well you know
I have to admit that I have not read the classics or books from the Harlem Renaissance since my college days. I had a double major of African American Studies and Womens studies so I was exposed to alot of African authors as well as women authors from different countries. In High School I was in Honors English classes so I was also exposed to alot that my classmates were not. I remember being exposed to Langston Hughes in elementary school.(is saddens me that my kids teachers do not think to expose kids to this, but that is another topic all together.)
I fell like Yas, my reading now is entertainment and not any of the classics that I remember were entertaining. There are Harlem Renaissance writers that I will read from time to time, but I am sure Main Stream does not consider those when they talk of a well read person.
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Great point, Yasmin and Lashonda. I think being “well-read” is subjective. I personally look at it in terms of the great variety one reads. I think like Angela said that you can be well read by reading a variety of journals, newspapers, etc. However, that to me is being well versed in world affairs.
Oh yeah, I agree Yasmin most of us are concerned about the every day things that life throws at us than to be concerned about being well read in the classics. Yet, I feel that if I take time to read, I can throw in one of the so called great books. I think many of us think of them as not being enjoyable and in many cases too cerebal to enjoy for pleasure. Yet, I think that they can be just as enjoyable as any other book.
I just finished Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And I enjoyed it. In fact I am convinced that there would be NO Ann Rice or Twilight series without the great work effort by Stoker.
I have always considered myself well read. I have read many of the “classics” and every once in awhile, will pick up one. Although it has been awhile since I have read the old stuff. Like Linda, the classics were on my bookshelf along with the earlier African American writers. My mother still has a book of Shakespeare that belonged to my great-grandmother and also a copy of and 1896 edition of the Afro American Encyclopedia. And yes, “classic” is becoming subjective and a lot of people of color books are being left off of the “must read” books.
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Great blog
Yes, I consider myself well-read. I have always been eclectic in my reading – reading in all genres and just look losing myself in books. Shakespeare was one of my fav authors as a teenager. I have read many of the “classics” and still continue to read but not on any special. Because of a lot of literature that did not generate out of Europe was not considered being “classic” – I have love exploring the literature of specific countries which is usually not included on reading lists while I was in school.
But my fav classics are the books from the Harlem Renaissance period – their writing is just wonderful and timeless
I think authors and readers need to expose themselves to the likes of (fiction and non-fiction):
Chinua Achebe, Ayi Kwei Armah, Colin Channer, Mark Twain
Lillian Smith, Zora Neal Hurston, Ray Bradbury, George Orwell
Langston Hughes, Franz Fanon, Frank Hercules, Hilton Hotema
Ursula LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Jack Williamson, Edgar Allen Poe
Amos Wilson, Randall Robinson, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
Tony Martin, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Gloria Naylor
Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Edward P. Jones, Kwame Dawes
George Jackson, Amy Tan, Cheikh Anta Diop, James Churchward
Phyllis Wheatley, Herman Melville, Arthur Schomburg, J. A. Rogers
Carter G. Woodson, Contee Cullen, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker
Count Volney, Drusilla Dungee Houston, E. Valentia Straiton
Lana Cantrell, Yosef A. Ben-Jochannan, William Golding
John Steinbeck, Theophile Obenga, Thomas Sawyer Spivey
Kurt Vonnegut, Isabel Allende, Gabrielle Garcia Marquez
Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Yevgeny Zamyatin, Immanuel Velikovsky, Horatio Alger
Helena P. Blavatsky, Harper Lee, Alester Crowley
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Donald Woods, Alexander Dumas
Aldous Huxley, Ayn Rand, Chancellor Williams, James Baldwin
Alex Carroll, Nikola Tesla, Gerald Massey, Richard Wright
Bell Hooks, Derrick Bell
I could go on. But these are some of the books I’ve been exposed to. We all should expose ourselves to as many types of books and genres as possible, I believe. It helps me have not only leverage when speaking, but balance when thinking.
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Being “well read” is really a very subjective term We could say that one is well read if they’ve read all the books approved by one group or another group or that group that isn’t related to either group, yadda yadda, but none of those groups really has the authority to determine if someone is actually well read. The only way you can not be well read is if you don’t read much at all. Beyond that, really you’re the only one with the authority to say if you’re well read or not…unless you want to go by someone else’s standards. But I think that’s somewhat silly considering that there really isn’t a consensus on this from anyone. Even the canon is heavily contested these days.
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I consider myself to be well read. I have read Dickens, Steinbeck, Baldwin, Wright, Hughes, Bronte, and many others old and new.
I read just about every genre and there are those I prefer more than others.
What I don’t know is some books you cannot always appreciate until you are old enough to understand the underlying message.
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I enjoy reading period. I have read many of what are considered the “classics” for school as well as recreation. I love me some Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. I guess by some standards that would make me a well-read person. To me it’s all relative. I also enjoy authors like Eric Jerome Dickey, Terry McMillan, Jackie Collins, JD Robb, Iris Johansen, Brenda Hampton, Brenda Jackson, Keith Lee Johnson, Al Saadiq Banks and Kwame Teague – authors of more comtemporary fiction. Like I said, I just enjoy reading and I read a lot of different authors, different styles and different genres. What I consider myself is a versatile reader.
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