If I'm to be completely honest, I struggled with this prompt for a long time. I even wrote a full response on an airplane flight this past weekend, but I think I'll leave that one in my journal. It may sound horrible, but I really can't identify anything specific I learned about love through literature.
I know part of the problem is I'm not as well read as people think I am. I didn't grow up loving the act of reading. Don't get me wrong, I liked a good book and I remember childhood favorites, but I was a really active kid who didn't like to sit still much. I don't recall being a bookworm or choosing reading over other activities, most of the time. It's troublesome to me, makes me feel like a bit of a fraud. I love to read and write now, and I'm a teacher, and forever a student, so people I know often associate me with books and libraries and reading. I'm flattered by that, truly. But I didn't learn to love reading until I was older.
I could get into a long explanation of the fact that I come from a highly literate family, never struggled with reading, had great teachers, and did very well in school. But I'll simply leave this comment, so these ideas can be dismissed as "reasons" I may not have enjoyed reading as much when I was a child.
Back to the prompt. I thought laboriously over books I did read, and what I learned about love from them. I continued to come up empty. So I revisited the prompt for inspiration, and found that I was more inspired by the question the author (Helen) thought the article was asking. "When did you fall in love with literature?" This is the question I chose to answer...
Three works made me fall in love with literature. Others, earlier on, whet my appetite. But these three, these are the ones.
I
Lord of the Flies might be the first high school assigned book I read cover to cover without the schedule of assignments from my teacher. I clearly remember it being the first book I loved so much, that it didn't matter to me what I had to read for school the next day, or what I might be quizzed on. The characterization, and the lens on human nature made this a page turner for me. At the time I was thinking I wanted to be a psycho-biologist so I suppose it makes sense. But I felt like I could picture the island, and every single boy who survived that plane crash. I hurt for them and angered with them. I felt like I lived inside the book the entire time I was reading it. And I learned, perhaps truly for the first time, how disappointing a movie can be when you loved the book so much! Though I had seen the original black and white, my junior year of high school a modern version was released. Of the two, the older version was better, but neither one of them even came close to as good as the book.
II
I recall pulling it off the shelf in my sister's room. I wanted to be more of a reader. I wanted to enjoy reading more as a leisure activity like she did. I think she recommended it, maybe not. But just because it was on the shelf in her room, it was good enough for me. Fahrenheit 451 was a book I read sitting on the floor of the bathroom in my mom's house. I think I finished it in two or three nights, which was record breaking for me. The symbolism, the themes of censorship and illiteracy... funny how for me this book instilled a love of literature! I think this was the beginning of my propensity toward dystopian literature and movies.
III
As a kid growing up in NY, we visited Broadway theaters at least once a year, usually more. And of course, I read Shakespeare and other plays in school. But it wasn't until I read the play 12 Angry Men, that I became appreciative of the play as a literature genre. The use of a single room as the setting for almost the entire play. The drama of a single issue being discussed around a table. No real action. No effects, just men talking. Conversation teasing out human stereotypes, belief systems, and group think. Pure genius.
I'm not sure how satisfying of a read this post is, but it is what it is... three pieces of literature that weren't just "favorite books" I read, but literary works that made me love good literature. Oh yeah, and I was super excited to find this... coming any day now. I sure hope it's good. I don't expect better, just good! Preview looks promising.
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