520Reading—Journal#1

Academic Reading and Reading for Pleasure

It is very late on Sunday evening as I am sitting at the computer writing this Blog for 520Reading. I have just spent 3 hours engaged in all the topics for the first Journal Reading and I have been trying to read an academic article on Gender Differences in Reading Strategy Use Among ESL College Students. I want to comment this article, yet I failed in the end.

In contrast, this morning, the situation was definitely different. I started my Sunday in this way: I went to the Richmond Library with a cup of coffee, and then I found a weekend newpaper to catch up on world politics, sports, book reviews, local news, and the comics. When I drank the last mouth of coffee, I have gone through all the pages of that newspaper. Afterwards, I retured the news paper to the shelf and went back with a pile of the Vogue magazines. Once again, I crossed my finger in all kinds of the pictures and filled of my eyes with jeans, skirts, cosmetics. The feeling of hunger informed me that 3 hours has passed away, and it was the time to have lunch.

In the evening, academic reading made me tired, while in the morning, reading for pleasure made me happy. This is the first difference, in my opinion, between the academic reading and the reading for pleasure. I read academic reading because I have to; I read reading for pleasure because I love to.

However, I always devote myself into academic reading. There is a famous quotation “reading makes a full-man”. In my opinion, academic reading makes a superman. The more critical thinking you want, the more academic reading you need. Therefore, I force myself to read academic articles, and exhaust in the end. I force myself to concentrate my mind to understand the main idea, although I get lost all the time. Once I finish and absorb some knowledge from academic reading, the pleasure and satisfaction gained can last for a very long period of time. Finally, I have realized that reading for pleasure makes me happy, but I cannot enjoy the sense of satisfaction; academic reading makes me tired, but I can enjoy the sense of satisfaction. This is the second difference.

It is a great day, since I have had a sense of the differences between academic reading and reading for pleasure. While academic reading strengthens my critical thinking ability, reading for pleasure brings me lots of fun and appeals me all the time. Without the reading for pleasure, I could not have and maintain the reading habit. Without this habit, I could not achieve in academic reading. Therefore, both the academic reading and the reading for pleasure are important to me, and relationship between them is like the relationship between my right hand and my left hand.