And is surprisingly good at articulating why. Most columns by Serious People trying to prove that they know how to have fun fall flat, but Ignatius' exploration of his own affection for hefty English novels is actually a great read. He also hits on one of my real weaknesses as a traveler -- my tendency to use vacation as a time to start a good book, and then pass the time in the book rather than the place. When I was 8 or 9, I went with my brother to Israel while I was in a fantasy phase. He likes to say that, in fact, he went to Israel. I went to Pern.
But so long as we're on literature, Ignatius gives the general encomium to fiction's virtues. He writes that, "a wise person (my mother, actually) once observed that it was essential to read novels, because otherwise people would not know how to behave. They would encounter problems of the heart that would be insoluble, save for the education they had received in watching the great characters of fiction struggle to make moral choices."
Is this true for any of you out in Blogland? Because I've had to make many a tough decision and just about never found my literary memories capable of offering much guidance. This, in fact, always seemed like a dodge to me, an attempt to argue for the usefulness of reading fiction, lest it be considered a mere trivial diversion. I found some validation for certain decisions I'd made in various Nick Hornby novels, I don't think that's what Ignatius is referring to here. But maybe other people really do call up The Power and the Glory when they're confused....
