It is books that teach us to refine our pleasures when young, and to recall them with satisfaction when we are old.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Books can be a source of solace, but I see them mainly as a source of pleasure, personal as well as esthetic.
Children will not pretend to be enjoying books, and they will not read books because they have been told that these books are good. They are looking for delight.
The delight of opening a new pursuit, or a new course of reading, imparts the vivacity and novelty of youth even to old age.
Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.
I think it's so important for young readers to find a book or series that ignites their passion for reading, especially boys, whose interest in reading wanes as they grow older.
Some of my favorite books to read are young adult books.
The enjoyment we get from something is powerfully influenced by what we think that thing really is. This is true for intellectual pleasures, such as the appreciation of paintings and stories, and it is true as well for pleasures that seem simpler and more animalistic, such as the satisfaction of hunger and lust.
You get to relive your childhood when you have a baby and you see these toys and these books you read when you were little - the innocence that you are able to maintain because you have to find that again in order to connect with your child keeps you in a special state of mind.
I read a lot, all the time, but often I read books for research, or because they're interesting to me in some way, even if they aren't exactly 'pleasurable.'
I never learned anything at all in school and didn't read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old.