Reading is Fundamental*

I remember this one particular night a few years ago when I stayed at my sister and her then-husband's house during that inevitable in-between-apartments limbo time when you've signed out of your old apartment but they won't let you into the new one until your lease officially starts at noon the next day. I remember my sister and brother-in-law had gone out for the evening, and I was relaxing on the sofa bed by myself, fully engrossed in Douglas Coupland's Microserfs when the two of them returned home.

My sister and I get along all right, but there are times when I probably get unjustifiably annoyed with her, which in turn makes her snap back at me, and suddenly things get ugly very quickly for no apparent reason. This was one of those times. Maybe I was just sick of being around her at that particular moment, or maybe I really was so wrapped up in my book that I genuinely resented the intrusion, but I remember my annoyance stemming from what I thought was one of the stupidest questions anyone had ever asked me. On this particular evening, my sister walked into the room, saw me with a book, and scoffed, "Do you actually LIKE reading??"

I didn't even know how to respond. To me, it was as ridiculous a question as "Is there a reason you wear shoes?" or "Do you think this electricity fad is here to stay?" Reading is good. Smart, interesting people read. Even not-so-smart, uninteresting people read. Isn't this a fairly well accepted and majority viewpoint? I simply didn't understand her question, or what could be going on in the mind of a person who'd ask it.

I bring this up today because I just read something that comforted me with the knowledge that I'm not alone and that in this particular case, perhaps a bit of snobbery is justified. If you're with me, go read it. (And in case you're wondering, no, I did not come across this site because of any type of interest in the Honeysuckle shop... not that there would be anything wrong with that.)

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* Tell me I'm not the only one who remembers the pro-reading bits sponsored by "Reading is Fundament" (or "R.I.F.") that used to air every Saturday morning between cartoons? This was probably in the mid-80s... after Schoolhouse Rock had disappeared and probably around the same time as they started showing Menudo videos at the top of the hour. (Or were the Menudo videos somehow just on my TV stations?)