The Pleasure of Reading Good Books
There is no pleasure comparable to the pleasure of reading good books. It is an utmost satisfactory affair. There are some lovers of books who read any printed matter – even a timetable when they get nothing else to read.
What is the greatest pleasure of life? If anybody asked this question, different people may hold different views here and acclaim aesthetic, intellectual, sensual or typical ethical pleasure as their specific choice. There is, however, no second opinion that are of the greatest pleasures of life comes from reading good books. Indeed, books bring immense joy and warmth, enlarges the frontiers of knowledge, widens the outlook and sustains the heart of the reader.
It is said that ‘reading is to the mind what exercise is to be body’. That is why a civilized man is drawn to a good book more than he is drawn to any other form of entertainment like the cinema, the radio and the television, football and cricket and so on. The pleasures derived from the latter may be also good, best their effect is not as lasting and chastening as the effect of reading.
Different kinds of books give us different types of pleasure. There are numerous books to please and satisfy different readers. There are fiction, poetry, drama, biography, history, criticism, and so on. The number of authors, too, is not few. There are novelists and dramatists and poets. There are critics and biographers and historians.
Shakespearian plays offer both poetry and philosophy, both action and thought. Milton’s poetry gives grand endeavor and sublimity, whereas Wordsworth’s has peace and rest for all. Roswell’s biography of Dr. Johnson opens up the window of the past.
The simple readers may have a glance at the grand gathering of men and women with all their charms and oddities. The detective stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle take a reader to a different land. These are thrilling experiences and black characters.
For the lovers of scientific tales, there are pleasures from the sensational stories of H.G. Wells. For the gorgeous account of history, one may go to Gibbon or to Sir Water Scot or Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and live once again in the golden past. The authors of great books are great masters.
Good books are the mighty creations of best art. So they ever please and never confused often a man is consumed with the process of his daily life. He feels sick, tired and hopeless. He needs some diversion at this very moment. But he may not have money to visit a cinema show on to come out in the open field. Great books come or such occasions to fill life with vitality and mobiling. They remove the heavier of a sad mind. Indeed, reading has charms endless, pleasures unlimited, and blessings infinite.
Good books are the never failing friends of man. They never betray the heart that truly loves them. The scholar among his books is perhaps, the happiest person. His communication with them has no parallel. However, like true friends, they help, guide and satisfy. Indeed, there is no ha it that can come on a par with reading. There must be three character-reading everywhere.
Thus we may say that, reading is indeed essential to living. A man who does not lover any type of books has no soul and no significance. He never realizes the friendship of master minds. A lover of books knows that he loves and learns. And he never misses his regard. He enjoys fully what books can give him and looks for no other reward.