Attitudes towards reading are a reflection of the times. What books are being published (or censored), what titles are popular amongst different age groups, and common themes are all insights into the current cultural and political climate. They tell us what society values most in that moment, the current stressors of those times, and how society has changed from the past.
In an age where the literacy crisis and rise of generative AI are at an all time high, are students today still interested in reading? In some social circles, reading is seen as ‘performative’, while others reject the notion of reading altogether, and embrace anti-intellectualism.
Some MacEwan students want to fight against that.
“Everybody is just one book away from being an English convert.”
– Christian Lambert
Christian Lambert is a fifth-year bachelor of arts student at MacEwan University. He’s currently working on his English honours thesis for his final year, alongside a minor in film. During his spare time, Lambert works in the Writing Centre, and most importantly, loves reading.
Lambert says that his reading habits changed considerably since he started pursuing his English degree. With not much time to read recreationally during the academic year, most of his reading occurs during his free time in the summer. Lambert says that he’s come to favour quality over quantity and prefers to get into depth with each text rather than trying to catch up with ‘the most important books’ or meet a certain goal.
“Poetry teaches you that you need to slow down,” Lambert says. While he was initially quite resistant to poetry at the start of his degree, the form has grown on him, citing Talking to the Diaspora by Lee Maracle as a book that he keeps reading over and over again despite being a “challenging poetry collection.”
Lambert credits Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese — a powerful story about residential schools and intergenerational trauma — as the book that singlehandedly changed the trajectory of his life. He hadn’t originally planned to major in English honours, beginning his journey at MacEwan academically upgrading to enroll into nursing. “I didn’t see the point in reading… I was resistant to it.” he says. When reading Indian Horse, “It instantly clicked, to the extent that I changed my career path and my discipline path, because of a single book.”
Some of his favourite books include Diamond Grill by Fred Wah, Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez, and Trickster Drift by Eden Robinson. A common theme that threads all these picks together is the emotional impact they each had on Lambert. He frequently choked up at books like Scarborough and Indian Horse, and found himself relating to the protagonist in Trickster Drift, “in such a way that I’m like, ‘this is just me, she’s just writing about me.”
“At a textual level, all we’re looking at is words on page,” Lambert says. “But somehow, they’re affecting and pulling on our heartstrings, which I find fascinating.”
Lambert stresses the importance of reading as a cultivation of empathy. He believes that empathy is undervalued today, and that literature is a powerful tool to keep it alive. Lambert also stresses the importance of imagination and believes that it is directly correlated to empathy. Reading authors from various backgrounds opens up the possibility of self-discovery in the process.
“I think that there’s one book out there for everybody that will click with them, in the same way that [Indian Horse] clicked for me.”
“Reading and learning is revolution.”
– Lena Schluter
Lena Schluter is a first-year bachelor of arts student, majoring in history. She’s hoping to switch over to classics if the petition for the proposed major is successful.
Schluter says that she’s been reading since she was 10. She prefers physical copies over digital versions. “Having the text in front of you is so much better because you interact with it better,” she says. Instead of using Goodreads or other digital software to track her progress, Schluter keeps her recently read books over her bed instead, keeping in trend with her preference for the traditional. She estimates she reads around 36 books per year, or an average of 3 per month.
Schluter is currently reading Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo, the third book in the Ninth House Trilogy. She described it as “Harry Potter, but all grown up and really inclusive,” a dark academia novel that follows the troubled main character through, in what she describes as “Yale University, if it had nine ancient houses of magic.” She appreciates the careful handling of heavy topics such as rape culture, power imbalances, and relationship to religion, which is a stark contrast from Bardugo’s other young adult novels such as Six Of Crows. She notes being a longtime fan of Leigh Bardugo.
“I love that she’s an author that I’ve kind of grown with.”
Some of their favourite books include Catching Fire by Susanne Collins, The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, and The Iliad by Homer. She remarks owning three separate editions of Catching Fire, noting the start of the rebellion and character development between Katniss and Peeta as prominent factors in her love for the book. The Iliad was their first introduction to classics, a subject she continues to show interest in today.
Schulter says she’s “always been an imaginative kid.” She recounts various memories of childhood in their small town during a time where there wasn’t much technology. Driving from their small town to Grand Prairie for shopping errands, Costco was her book haven. She recalls “staring at all the books,” picking up books such as Geronimo Stilton and Nancy Drew. “I’d get one for the ride home, and I’d finish it by the time we were home,” Schluter says.
“To read is to learn to write,” says Schluter. She stresses the importance of reading a variety of genres — both fiction and non-fiction — and putting yourself in other people’s shoes to better understand your mindset.
Schluter’s attitude towards the importance of reading is reflected through their favourite books, such as Catching Fire. “Knowledge is power, knowledge is rebellion,” she says. “The more you read and the more you learn, the more you rebel.” Schluter takes a strong stance against generative AI and its role in the literary space, saying that we “don’t rebel enough against it.”
“To write is to be human,” Schluter says. “[AI] cannot write like us, it will not write like us, because it doesn’t understand what it is to be human.”
“If you read less, you will shrink your capacity to feel.”
– Alberto Tadeo
Alberto Tadeo is a fifth-year bachelor of arts student majoring in sociology and minoring in classics.
Tadeo takes his love for literature seriously, reading approximately 200 books per year. He credits his high turnout to reading across a variety of genres and reading multiple books at the same time, “usually around 7 books at once”. He uses Goodreads to track his progress, but struggles with keeping it up to date — a testament to his dedication. As a sociology major, Tadeo says he focuses much on heavy theoretical work and tough primary sources, crediting fiction as an outlet to keep him sane.
Tadeo has recently read All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks. He explains how Hooks defines love “as a verb, not a noun,” placing the importance on love as an action that is intentionally performed.
“One of the privileges of reading… is that you can do it in tandem,” says Tadeo. “When you read something theoretical like Bell Hooks, and then you’re reading a romance beside it… Suddenly, you don’t have to read it in isolation; your brain is already making the connections.”
Some of his favourite books include The Secret History by Donna Tartt and Persuasion by Jane Austen. He notes The Secret History as one of the first books he read to get out of a COVID induced reading slump, and believes Persuasion captures the concept of yearning best through a second-chance, slow-burn style romance and tackling questions of doubt and autonomy. Tadeo notes that his favourite novels are the ones he can turn back to. He gained a better understanding of the references and foreshadowing in The Secret History after studying classics and other books, such as The Bacchae, tying back to reading in tandem.
Tadeo described himself as an avid reader in middle school. However, the struggle of wanting to fit in, especially as an immigrant child, pushed him to reject negative labels associated with the hobby and shifted his focus to making friends. He says that it was the isolation of COVID during his senior year of high school that drew him back to his love of reading, citing No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai as an important novel during that time for him.
Tadeo says that reading is “doing yourself the responsibility and the justice of not being someone who shrinks their capacity to live and understand other lives.” He says that by not reading, it reinforces a sense of “othering” that institutions in power capitalize on. Tadeo states that Western society is “very individualistic”, so reading a variety of genres and putting yourself in the shoes of others cultivates empathy and understanding.
Tadeo stresses the importance of being critical about what you read, forming your own opinions, and not hopping on hate bandwagons. “If our conversations stop at ‘I hate the book because’, and we can’t discuss why, no wonder we’re struggling in terms of reading comprehension and being analytical,” he says. He encourages people to read for themselves and cultivate their own tastes, and to not let the pressures of social media and the current hyper-elitist and critical culture discourage the act of reading.
“You are a reader because you believe yourself to be a reader,” Tadeo says.
