After reading the “American Scholar”, this particular quote has stuck with me:

“Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst.”

I agree that books and written language truly are the “best”, whether through escapism or knowledge. Fiction, and in particular fantasy, offer a place for people to escape from the real world, into the problems of other people. Another example of this is Romance, which people, especially women, often read to fill their romantic desire. And even fiction books can help you build knowledge, particularly on different countries and cultures, as well as empathy. Books are glimpses into other worlds, and into the minds of their authors.

I, personally, am so thankful to have readers in my family. As a child, they encouraged my addiction to series such as “Nancy Drew”, “Warrior Cats”, and “Little House on the Prarie”. And each and every one of those has helped to shape the person I am today. “Nancy Drew” made me curious and observant, “Warrior Cats” kicked off my fantasy addiction, and “Little House on the Praries” caused me to get interested in American history and politics.

Books, when “well used” can and will shape identities, and help us as readers grow as human beings.

When I think of abused literature, I not only think of book banning and/or burning, but an abuse of the contents within the books. In this modern world, people will often take quotations from books out of context and post them online. While this can be fun, such as in the case of “out of context” quotes, used for memes or comedic purposes, it often leads to a misinterpretation of the ideas presented in the text.

One that I have learned of recently is how in “Romeo and Juliet”, when Juliet says “Where for at thou Romeo”, she is not asking for his location. She is essentially asking “Why are you Romeo”, alluding to the feaud between their families.

In particular, this is dangerous when out of context quotes change people’s perception of the literature. This is also a problem when it comes to book reviewers. Because, ultimately each and everyone of us will have infinite interpretations on the meaning of books. But when readers look to others about their perceptions, they go into a book with preconceptions about this.

I do enjoy listening and watching book reviews and recommendations. But I don’t simply read a book because someone online said it was good, or that they enjoyed it. I first do my own research, looking for any content warnings, and reading the description. But I don’t go into spoilers, because spoilers, especially out of context, can ruin a reading experience, or perception of a book.

And, this may just be me, but I also think of the physical abuse of books, particularly that of burning. If you burn or somehow destroy every last copy of a book, you are loosing so, so much potential knowledge, whether it was fiction or non-fiction. Another example of this is leaving a book out in the rain. Both of these could and can prevent people from accessing that knowledge. And who knows? Maybe that book could have changed their life. But because it was abused physically, now they will never pick it up and be transformed by the words within those pages.