{"id":248,"date":"2006-03-05T11:26:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-05T18:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2006-03-05T11:26:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-05T18:26:00","slug":"is-it-ok-to-read-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/2006\/03\/05\/is-it-ok-to-read-novels\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Ok to Read Novels?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I subscribe to the daily emails from Grace Gems<\/a>, which I usually find to contain profitable quotes from centuries past. Sometimes when the quote touches on cultural matters, I find myself questioning or disagreeing. Much of course was written in years past that we would<\/a> disagree with, but the anonymous selector of these quotes must agree with them. So I give you one from today with the question of whether or not you agree.<\/p>\n

Novel reading produces a morbid appetite for mental excitement. The object of the novelist generally is, to produce the highest possible degree of excitement, both of the mind and the passions. The effect is very similar to that of intoxicating liquors on the body. Hence the confirmed novel reader becomes a kind of literary inebriate, to whom the things of eternity have no attractions, and whose thirst cannot be slaked, even with the water of life.Novel reading is a great waste of time. Few will pretend that they read novels with any higher end in view than mere amusement. If anything valuable is to be derived from them, it may be obtained with far less expense of time, and with safety to the morals, from other sources. No Christian, who feels the obligation of “redeeming the time because the days are evil,” will fail to feel the force of this remark. We have no more right to squander our time and waste our energies in frivolous pursuits–than we have to waste our money in extravagant expenditures! We are as much the stewards of God in respect to the one as the other. How dangerous thus to parley with temptation!<\/p>\n

If you wish to become weak-headed, unstable, and good for nothing–read novels!<\/p>\n

(Harvey Newcomb, “The Young Lady’s Guide to the Harmonious Development of Christian Character” 1843)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In recent years I haven’t spent much time reading novels, but it’s not entirely a philosophical<\/a> issue as much as a practical one (lack of time). But the issue here is more than a “great waste of time.” Is reading a work of fiction akin to drinking alcohol? Are there not valuable things that can be gained in fiction that cannot be gained in any other way (less time or not)? And if this is the standard for “time-wasting,” how many other things must go first? Is it ever ok to watch a movie or a ballgame? Are the objections raised above applicable only to the excesses of novel reading?<\/p>\n

I know that there are a million nuts out there with all kinds of wild ideas. I ignore those. This came from a source that is usually dead on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I subscribe to the daily emails from Grace Gems, which I usually find to contain profitable quotes from centuries past. Sometimes when the quote touches on cultural matters, I find myself questioning or disagreeing. Much of course was written in years past that we would disagree with, but the anonymous selector of these quotes must\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}