The Solitary Vice: Against Reading

Author and Maryland Institute College of Art professor Brottman (High Theory/Low Culture) challenges the conventional wisdom of her fellow compulsive readers, positing that ""while illiteracy is just as dangerous as sexual ignorance, in both cases there's a case to be made for moderation."" As the title entendre suggests, Brottman is an advocate of reading for pleasure, but she draws witty and serious ties between literacy and a number of impulses, compulsions and neuroses: voyeurism, celebrity worship, guilt, isolation and ""Severe Disappointment with Reality."" With thoughtful deference to those ""smart, well-educated people... for whom reading is anything but 'fun-damental,'"" she cites recent titles challenging the reading-is-good-for-you ""superstition"" (How to Talk About Books you Haven't Read, Everything Bad is Good for You), mines her own past for tales of reading excess (""I became something of a ghoul myself, buried all day in my bedroom... except to renew my library books"") and looks hard at ""some of the things literature... can't do."" Brottman beats a winding path through library stacks, ""ought"" books and the virtues of true crime. Of course she rallies for the home team, locating reading's greatest virtue in its faculty for individual self-discovery (not unlike masturbation). With sharp observations, a brisk style and a wide range of topics, Brottman's is a rare feat: a crowd-pleaser that could make converts out of readers and nonreaders alike.