Musing Mondays (Nov.15)

This week’s musing is another read-and-respond!

I was reading Eleanor Roosevelt’s book, “You Learn By Living“, via Google Books the other day, and came across a quote that really struck a chord with me. The quote said this:

“What counts, in the long run, is not what you read; it is what you
sift through in your own mind; it is the ideas and impressions
that are aroused in you by your reading.”
(pg. 7-8, “You Learn By Living” by Eleanor Roosevelt)

What do you think about this quote? Do you believe this to be true? If so, why and how? And, if not, why not?

I really liked this quote a lot. And I think it’s very true.

I’m a note-taker, so I’ll often have my notebook beside me when reading nonfiction, and I’ll be jotting down quotes (like the one above) in order to reference them again, later. I do this because (1) I enjoy doing it, and (2) I get a lot of the books I read from the local library, and want to be able to reference the parts I liked without having to check the book out all over again. While taking the notes, though, I often find that the quotes I’m writing down are triggering other thoughts about what I’ve read. Sometimes I write those thoughts down, too, but often I don’t. And, then I mentally kick myself, later, for not having done so! LOL. Reason being, I think that my reading — and, perhaps, too, my understanding of what I’m reading — would be so much more fulfilling if I’d keep track of all of the things that reading these books makes me feel and think.

I really believe that reading isn’t just so much about reading the words that are written on the page… it’s also very much about how the books make us feel… the stuff that the books stir up inside of us, just like the quote says, above. Books evoke a sense of belonging, or joy, or anger — a wealth of emotions, really. Books teach us, and books help us to grow in our understanding of the world around us.

Sure, we often read to escape. But, I still think that the books will have an impact on us, regardless of why or what we’re reading.

So, yeah. I think that what counts is definitely not just what we read, but what our reading evokes in us, and what we learn from it.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your answer in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!