Providence Journal Article

A BALANCED BOOK DIET

Maureen Delovio

Candy and cake, pie and ice cream, soda and French fries these were (are) the foods of our dreams, high in sugar and high in fat. When we were young and did not understand the intricacies of nutrition, much to our parents’ chagrin, we tried to eat what tasted good not what was most nutritious. Who wanted to start each meal with desert? Who of us ate all the peas just to get to the reward of chocolate cake? Dr. Spock said that eating habits are established at a very young age and that children if given a variety of different foods in their toddler years will come to appreciate food and eventually (hopefully) have good balanced diets. As adults and even as adolescents we tend to go on eating sprees when all we want are starchy foods or red meat, or high fat content food, etc. Cravings usually do not stay constant, they fluctuate. Over time, if such things were plotted, there would be peaks and valleys of nutritional food and non-nutritional food and plateaus of every thing in between.

So it is for the readers of books. There are books we read to escape and there are those that we read to learn. Some are beneficial and help us grow and some do not. Children should be exposed to a variety of books when they are very young and this exposure to a varied diet should be continued for as long as possible. Just as with food, books should not be forced but always offered, always available, whether it is a comic book, light book, a picture book, or a classic.

As adults we often turn to books to have our senses stimulated, our souls soothed, our minds broadened, our fancies tickled, our fears allayed or our psyches explained to mention but a few reasons that people read. There are people who will read a romance novel, The Black Rose by Christina Skye, one day and the next they will pick up a serious biography on Teddy Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, by Edmund Morris or a classic by John Steinbeck, Cannery Row, to be followed by a mystery by John D. MacDonald. Most people don’t take such a balanced approach. When a reader finds a certain genre of book to fill one of his needs, he will usually stay with that type or even a single author until he has had enough. It is like eating ice cream. Even I know when I have had enough. After reading all the spy novels (Without Remorse, by Tom Clancy) he can take, the reader might find a taste for science fiction (The Earth Book of Stormgate, by Poul Anderson) or war fiction (Sword Point, by Harold Coyle).

Over time and given enough variety and choice, people will read what interests them, what fills their needs and what lifts them beyond their “petty pace from day to day.” The classics once read will be read again in a diet of books that is balanced on an individual basis. This is part of the library’s role - to serve the community’s literary plate. At this buffet there is something for everyone whether you are looking for something light and easy to digest or something more substantial to get through a long winter’s night, the library has it. Read something different this week – expand your diet of books.