Very, very
little reading time due to too much overwork. In the tiny nanoseconds
of time I can sneak I'm reading a fascinating book by Lisa Zunshine
called Why We Read Fiction. It's a slim book, and I've
had it for a month, so I should have been able to finish it
weeks ago--but I'm still barely a third of the way into it.
But I wanted to post about this in hopes someone else might
be intrigued enough to want to get their own copy.Here's
an Amazon link.
Of course
there are all kinds of reasons why we read. Her particular theory
homes in on the Theory of Mind. To quote from her opening: This
book makes a case for admitting the recent findings of cognitive
psychologists into literary studies by showing how their research
into the ability to explain behavior in terms of the underlying
states of mind--or mind-reading ability--can furnish
us with a series of surprising insights into our interaction
with literary texts. This immensely readable book then focuses
in on some well-known works, and references others. As it happens
I'm familiar with the texts that she names, but sometimes that
means familiar from a reading decades ago. In other words I
don't think you need to know the works, but if you do want to
get them, they're such standards that any library will have
'em.
I'll try to add more if I get a chance.