There's an article on abebooks.com where they've chosen the ten most depressing books. I have not read a single one of them, which makes me think about my reading habits. I don't typically read depressing books. I don't need a happy ending, but I need a hopeful one, and I simply don't really understand reading completely depressing books. They may be good books, but there are innumerable good books, and as long as you read good books in general there's really no reason why you have to read a particular good book. I suppose it all comes back around to why we read in the first place and what makes a particular book compelling when we do read it. I have no doubts that if I did for some reason read one of those ten books, I might completely love it no matter its depressing aspects.
When I took Senior Literature, last fall and the spring before that, I did feel like some of the books we read were read not so much because they were good books but because they were about very serious, discussion-provoking, often rather depressing subjects. This always bothered me about that class, though it was otherwise a fabulous class. I felt like we should be reading books because they were good, less than because they created discussions, and I always thought there were a lot of good books that could create discussion that were less depressing.
Have you read any of those ten books? Did you find them depressing?
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