Prism Reader’s Questionnaire (Answers provided by C. Pereira)

20 Feb 18

Prism Reader’s Questionnaire

Answers provided by C. Pereira

1. What would you lose if reading were banned?

An impossible proposal: one might as well attempt to ban breathing.

2. What would you do instead?

Read. Breathe.

3. What value does reading bring to your life?

Pleasure. Pain. Order. Meaning. Insight. Perspective. Escape. Compassion. Excitement. Wonder. Confoundment. Journeys and their destinations

4. How has something you’ve read affected how you lead your life?

See the list, above

5. What about that experience have you shared in detail with someone?

Impossible to tell, since reading is often intensely personal, and it’s impossible to well know what you, the reader has gained, much less what you, the reader, may have shared.

6. Do you always finish a book? Why?

Almost always. To abandon a book mid-read speaks to me of a terrible intellectual arrogance: the reader who abandons assumes the ‘problem’ lies with the book, but there’s a good chance that the ‘problem’ lies with the reader. A good reader must approach a book with a profound humility.

7. Or, what stops you?

Very little.

8. Do you ever re-read a book? Under what circumstances?

Often. We listen repeatedly to certain pieces of music. We look often at great paintings. And just as great music or great visual art has an inexhaustible amount of ­everything to give to the listener or viewer, so too a great book continues to give. Besides, a novel read in our twenties, and  re-read a decade or two or three later is completely different experience.

9. What is the most important, enjoyable or instructive book you’ve ever read?

Hamlet. Nothing comes remotely close. To be. Not to be. Let be.

10. Name 3 essential elements that you consider make a good book.

A good book must tell the truth. If it does so, everything else will fall into place.