The number one way to fail at reading is to fall out of practice. That’s the number one way to fail at anything, by the way.
Ever give up on a sport? A diet? A relationship? Knitting? Writing? Blogging? Not everything is like riding a bike. Sometimes one can lose many of the skills they once held dear or at least tried with all their might to achieve. And I think this pertains to 1. the enjoyment of reading, 2. the ability to be a careful reader, and 3. remembering, after a long absence from reading, that reading is a good thing.
I understand reading isn’t for everyone just like spearfishing isn’t for everyone or parenthood isn’t for everyone or combining peanut butter with chocolate isn’t for eveyone. That said, reading has been around for a long time. A few billion people throughout history have said it’s not only good but downright important. People have died so that others might read (don’t believe me? Read about Avorres and his allies or watch the Arabic language film, Destiny). I’m not sure those are attributes to be taken lightly.
Maybe I’m preaching to the choir. If you’re reading my blog, you likely enjoy reading. And if you like me teaching reading, you too hope to put the right book in the hands of a non-reader and open their eyes. All right, all right, I won’t get too sappy here, but this is important to me. Important enough for me to write about five books for boys tomorrow as the latest Your Friday Recommendation.
-nm