Thursday, January 26, 2012

Reading requires an act of empathy, really. What you're doing when you're reading a book is saying, I'm going to turn off who I am for a little bit, and I'm going to enter the personality of another human being. Reading is a very generous act, but it's a very helpful act if you really want to understand what another person is like.
Gary Shteyngart

4 comments:

Darlyn (Your Move, Dickens) said...

I think reading is also an act of empathy for the writer on a much larger scale. They step into someone else's shoes so fully and for longer periods of time that it's more than amazing. :)

laughingwolf said...

a good tale makes me an observer of the tale... as if i was there... but not participating....

Trish said...

That's why good writers deserve heaps of respect for their talent and art.

laughingwolf said...

indeed!