Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea
I've not even a clue what edified means, but if you don't read to be entertained, why read at all?
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Er, to be edified? You might find a dictionary somewhere on t'Interweb to help you.
Entertainment is great: it's pleasant, and if you have gaping voids in your life it can momentarily paper them over, which is better than nothing. But it doesn't make you a better person. It doesn't increase your knowledge, your ability to empathise, your command of the language. Reading literature can do these. Sometimes it will entertain you at the same time (Dickens, Rushdie); sometimes entertainment is not the point of that particular work. Surely we can all agree that these things are also great?
If Pop Idol and Dan Brown float your boat, that's dandy. But if there's nothing else in your life, you really are missing out.