A conference amused me. And bemused me.
I am mentally ill. I am a reader. I am critical of the whole wellbeing agenda. And this connects them all.
It is called Reading for Wellbeing and is organised by The Reader Organisation who seem to be a top-down reading and health promotion organisation.
Some good speakers. I read Maryanne Wolf's book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain with great interest and bought it for one of my brothers for his birthday. And there is a discussion about Why the Humanities Matter which is very topical given what is going on in universities in the UK, and the US too.
But it bother me. Maybe because I often read to get away from people, maybe because I think reading is not just about feeling good...
And maybe it is more that I feel special for being a reader and it's encouraging all these non-readers to get stuck into a good book and get talking about it and feeling better and I am cross!
I don't know.
lol. I see all those points! I'd be peeved if some group decided something I already liked to do was now stamped "good for me," too. And I just don't like the "wellbeing" rhetoric, either.
ReplyDeleteI'm a reader, so am relating to your blog. I blog my reading stuff at http://shaggydogsstory.blogspot.com/ if you feel like having a look.
Looking forward to reading more of your blog!
Hi Selene, thanks for your comments, you are my first commenter!
ReplyDeleteI've checked out your blog - it's great. Will add that to my regular reading.
I think reading is more complex than "reading for wellbeing" might suggest! I think reading IS good for most of us but not in the sense of making us feel happy all the time.
Watch out for more anti-wellbeing posts in due course!