But you’re not going to get me on violent movies!

Laughter as a judge of value must be examined. A friend pointed out to me a few years ago, that there is no *humor* without pain. After some thought, I chose to seek joy, and not to value humor (pain) very much at all. I still tell jokes, and look at cartoons. But I also consider the pain and harm that humor does. Joy is the emotional response to beauty, the basic part of enjoyment when nothing is harmed or damaged. I enjoy watching a sunset, a child’s smile, seeing a loved one. I enjoy working metal and wood, reading a good book.

So I cannot think simply laughing would determine whether a book is the wrong sort. Also, finding a book to be tedious means that I am not interested in a book – at that time. Perhaps I am tired, perhaps the material has emotional or other connotations that distract me. Perhaps I need preparation, from study of a language to mastery of related material such as gardening or mathematics. Perhaps need to grow my world view, or perhaps reading another book or three, or seeing a particular event or movie, or having a particular conversation or experience will prepare me to enjoy a particular book, fiction or not. I have several books I was not interested in reading when I got to them, only to find they seemed more attractive at a later date, and turned out to be quite good reads.

I guess I interpreted the topic of ‘wrong sorts of books’ in the sense of good and evil. I can easily envision a quite harmful book being a good read – entertaining, humorous, but causing harmful personal changes in some readers. Hint: Go see the ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ at the theater. Then notice your speedometer and driving reflexes for the first several blocks as you leave the theater. If ‘we are what we eat’, we are also the friends we keep, the movies and events we see, and what we read.