This was kind of just rambling...you touched upon one basic thing "every book has a message whether it's intentional or not" that's about it. This kind of reminded me of a blog entry...I get what you're going at here though...when I'm reading something I'm not sitting there analyzing it. But sometimes it doesn't hurt to wonder "what is the point of this?", and same goes with writing it's either that or "why should people care about reading this?"...I know people like to write just to write but when they post it on a site such as this that's basically asking for someone to read it...But anyway too blog-like but not bad.

You make many excellent points, but better organization would improve your argument.

Personally, I'm a re-reader. It works for me. The more I read a book, the more I love it, because each time the world becomes more real and I pick up on more nuances (that is, until I've memorized the book). I don't re-read everything; only the stuff that truly excited me the first time.

I must admit, like you, my reading style has changed as I've grown older.

I put stuff down.

When I was a kid, it didn't matter if I was really enjoying the book - I read it all the way through. By high school, I realized how many books existed and how many I wanted to read and there was no more time to waste on awful novels.

Now that I'm in college, there's almost no time period. (I still read plenty, since I'm in all lib. arts classes, but . . . ) So, I truly treasure any time I spend on a pleasure book. Sometimes that means I want to read an old favorite because I know I won't be wasting my time on something lame, but on something that makes my emotions soar and a smile come to my face.

Or I just read some fluffy smut, but that's a whole 'nother story.

I also like your ideas about themes, but your two topics don't seem to fit an overlying thesis. You might try to delve deeper into each and give them their own essay. Particularly the idea of not re-reading, because I believe it's less universal and thus more interesting to explore.

Livi

Review Revolution

This was a very good essay. It seemed to be well thought out and fairly well executed. There were a couple of points that could use a little bit of improvement.

This sentence, "WHAT?!?! The man was literally insane!! There was no message!" I think that the ialics are enough to emphasize your message. There isn't really a need for excessive punctuation or for "what" to be in all caps.

I quite love your idea here: "What did people answer? What did we eventually decide on? I don’t remember. Why? Because of that simple question, my mind went blank. It lost focus." One way to improve this part and really make it punch is to take out "of that simple question" and possibly use a semi-colon instead of a period after "blank." Also when you do that the "it" becomes clear. As it is it's unclear whether you are talking about your mind or the question.

Great job though! Valid points!! Loved reading it!

Great message in this. :) In all seriousness, I agree with what you're saying. I love to read just to read, books can be an escape, not a lesson.

It was a good idea to add movies into it, and talk about how nobody analyzes those. I wouldn't have thought of that.

And your rants about rereading were interesting to read. Personally, I disagree: as little time as I have, I love reading my favorite stories over and over again. But you made some very good points.

Keep writing,

-Freaky, the Review Revolution

Let's start with the technical issues (just to get them out of the way). Overall, the main problem with this essay is that you wrote it with a too informal tone. Informality is okay, and even desirable, in an essay like this one, but you've let the informality interfere with the flow of the piece, often using unnecessary or exaggerated punctuation to make a point you could have made more simply and effectively. For example, in the quote "'WHAT?!?! The man was literally insane!! There was no message!'," you don't need all that punctuation or the all-caps "WHAT" to show your outrage. It just looks immature.

Now, we move on to the substance. You build up several defenses of your main points, but a few of those defenses fall flat. You're right that a person can waste time rereading just any book. He misses the greater realm of stories and characters by revisiting the same works over and over. At the same time, when a person rereads a /good/ book, he gains a better understanding of that book through rereading. For example, I didn't catch the mirrors or light verses dark motif of The Scarlet letter until my second reading, and I didn't fully understand Reverend Dimmsdale's transformation until my third. Additionally, hopeful writers can find effective literary techniques by rereading good books, and those writers can in turn use the discovered techniques in their own writing.

Entertainment value makes a work enjoyable, but theme keeps that work alive over the years. Would Frankenstein have been nearly as successful if Shelly had only thought "Hey, I want to write about a monster," when she was working on her book? Themes and motifs and symbols and all those other literary terms they make you learn create a deeper reading experience. I would agree, though, that too often books focused on meaning almost completely ignore entertainment value. It takes writing skills to entertain people, too (though apparently Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jack London never got that memo). Look up something by Haruki Murakami (especially "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" or "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World") if you want to read a book with both deep meaning and good entertainment value.

PM me if you'd like to talk about this at greater length.

-Will