Good Readers and Good Writers
What does Nabokov think makes a good reader? Do you agree? What do you believe are the characteristics of a good reader? Do you consider yourself a good reader?
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Nabokov thinks a good reader is someone who has an imagination, good memory, a dictionary and some artistic sense. He says that a good reader is a creative rereader. I do agree with what he says, you have to have an imagination, you have to be able to put yourself in the story to relate to what you are reading. Having good memory of what your are reading to be able to tell others about what you read. You may not necessarily need a dictionary right there while reading a story but depending on what you are reading some of the words may need to be looked up to understand better what you are reading. The characteristics of a good reader would be someone who has an imagination that could possibly put themselves in the book they are reading, be able to comprehend the words and put details and descriptions together for other people to better understand.
I personally do not consider myself a good reader, I do have a good imagination, but my memory and artistic sense are very small. I have a hard time explaining what a story is about, whether it is a book or a movie, I do not do a good job with explaining the details or summarizing what it is about.
I would agree that I am pretty bad at being able to tell someone what a story is about a lot of times, but I still consider myself a good reader. I don't know how important that is in calling yourself a good or bad READER though. If so, maybe I need to change my answer to NOT a good reader HA. I never really thought of that aspect, but maybe (hopefully) we can still be considered good readers without being able to expertly retell what a story is about.
ReplyDeleteI see where you guys are coming from as to not be able to tell someone what a movie or story is about. However im not sure if that makes you a bad reader either. To me its so difficult to explain in a summary to someone what the book is about because how do you include all the creativity that the author did throughout the book in a summary? You want them to get them hooked yet not give the book away completely. That I am bad at yet I consider myself a good reader for other reasons. I agree that you don't need a dictionary right next to you, but if you stumble across a word you do not know you should look it up rather than skipping over it. It helps you understand more the authors creativity.
ReplyDeleteHi Toni! Your posting really included further detail such as tools: Artistic sense, Dictionary, and the memory aspect in order to be a good reader. I think those are key in order to be a good reader as well as a writer. As for your comment about you not being a good reader, you may need to give yourself more credit. With your imagination your able to pick out details that will make the story pop. Look forward to working with you in class!
ReplyDeleteToni, great summary of the Nabokov lecture article. I though you hit on some of the key points like the use of dictionary. I can't say I have ever really had a dictionary close by or even used when I was reading. Unfortunately, if I was unfamiliar with a word, I am sure I have just passed over it. I can see the benefit though of deepening what you have read by more fully understanding all the words. Also, thanks for sharing some of your struggles when it comes to reading and sharing. I hope this semester will help you and I out with some of weaknesses in English. Have a great semester and I look forward to reading more of your blogs.
ReplyDeleteVincent "Vinny"