Reading Junk Food?

When are you reading too much junk food?  I’m not sure. I thought about it when I was looking at the stack of books I have up in queue next.

I guess some people would say everything I am reading in this stack is junk food. More or less. Only three pieces are non-fiction, the rest are fantasy and science fiction. If I am not reading classics of modern literature from around the world, is it junk food? You would have a hard time convincing me it is.

The stack also has some graphic novels, and two small comic books. Junk food? Eh… probably?

We all know there are levels of writing, and not all levels are made equal. Patrick Rothfuss writes at a level I am not capable of. It is more elevated, more complex and more interesting than my writing. It is less junk food than say the comic books at the bottom of the stack.

When have we reached too much junk food relative to the rest?

I am close to saying … never. Blasphemy?!?

Maybe. I love classic literature too, and I certainly read it. The most important thing to me though, is reading. Every person who reads is a good thing. Rising tides lift all ships, is true. If there is a massive demand in the book industry for graphic novels, I will take that over there being no demand for any books, because I insisted that people should read only 100 + year old classics.

I know I don’t always challenge myself in my books, and reading SHOULD challenge us from time to time. Is my ratio, right? For now, I'll say yes. But you should judge your own. If nothing has seriously challenged you in a while find a book that does. If everything challenges you maybe take a break and read something light just for the fun of it.

Reading can have so many purposes, and we shouldn’t lose sight of any of them. We shouldn’t judge people who only read one thing any more than we should judge ourselves too harshly for the same thing.