What I like to read and why

Ever since I was a child, I was fascinated by reading. It appeared as a magic to me, being able to get words out of the paper without other people. I remember that I memorized a book of short poems by Josef Lada, where pictures on one page corresponded with text on the other side. So I was faking the reading at the age of three by pointing my finger at the verses and saying them out loud, not knowing the symbols. I think first thing I was actually reading were comics “Čtyřlístek”, and this is the kind of literature I still enjoy the most.

Well, not really. The true is, I have met the more serious stuff quite soon, and reading became my obsession in the primary and secondary school. And until now it still is one of my most favorite activities, especially in my solitude and contemplative times. I used to read anything, anywhere and anytime, really, any printed or non-printed text was sufficient. Lately, maybe in my last years in high school, I realized how different qualities of content or form are available. Above all, after two years of attempts I finally could understand texts written in other language, namely in English, and I found out how different and yet the same this foreign attitude towards words and speech is. I guess this is one of the worlds I am exploring right now, and hope that I will never feel I have explored it enough.

I can divide my reading in several categories. People who know me also know, that humorous and entertaining literature of all kinds have its steady place in my daily schedule. In this area I prefer something I call second-thoughts humor, as the opposite of jokes without background. I admire the skills of writers like Dave Barry, who can keep in mind several wits and serve them gradually through the whole column, yet finishing with something from the beginning of the article, familiar to the reader already. I always enjoy observing him breaking the cliché of regular rigid sentence-building and making fun of common predictive structures.

This is also why I respect Terry Pratchett so much. First I thought he was just a well-known author of easily understandable fantasy books for teenagers, but I had to change my mind. Sure, some people can read Pratchett’s books without even realizing there is some other level in them, but once I at least partly understood how he uses the wit in order to raise some deep questions, I had to admit that he really is a philosopher. As I mentioned the questions, I probably ought to say that he does not humiliate his readers by giving the easy answers right away. As to say, the moral of the story is in the story. I am not implying that he is some philosopher with new system of beliefs and disbeliefs, I think that he merely presents alternative attitude towards life, imagination and understanding people, helps us to discover what we already know about life. And, of course, his books are much wittier than anything you might see on TV.

So much for humor, at least for now. When I started to read literature of the 19th and early 20th century, I was very impressed by its directness and potential. Authors like Dostojevskij, Hemingway, Wilde, Dickens, Sartre, Kafka and others really opened me the gate of other literature, so different from novels written before. Impact of stories is multiplied by excellent usage of the language and immediate feeling of presence allows us, the readers, to become part of the story (or, more important, they offer us the option to make the experience part of ourselves). Also books form people like Exupery, Fulghum, Hesse, Bulgakov, Lewis, Orwell or Heller are still inviting me further into fantastic world of literature. And I know that there is much more, still waiting for me to dive into. I hope I will have time for reading at least what my favorite people recommend me to read.

Recently, I am studying some philosophical articles, essays about different subjects or even scientific studies about people and their attitude towards communication and their lives in nowadays society. I read some theological texts, long and short, Christian, agnostics and often even ignorant; I was often surprised how much can be written and how much effort we can put in understanding that, how thin the line is between realizing something precious for our lives and just letting it pass by, thus missing our opportunity that might not come again… And beside these, I read way too much quotes, encyclopedic articles etc. You could say I am trying to analyze humor, or understand it better.

I think here is what I like most about books – it allows people to share experiences, opens new possibilities and actually brings real people together, since it influences our “real life” as well. Through books we are able to explore ourselves, train our imagination and empathy, and learn how to handle other points of view. It is almost as good as a dialog with close person.

And surprisingly, that might be the exact reason why books are such a great things. They are alive. There is someone, who spent his or her time writing the book, and I think that is what counts. When I asked myself the question how I would differentiate what is worthy of my time reading it and what is not, I came up with this answer: Whatever stems from deep of the authors mind and heart. Whatever they spent their time writing for others in order to tell something they wanted to tell. Whatever was written to share some amazement or realization, where author does not just write to show off or gain credit, but really wants to give something special.
I want to be ready and listen to that.