Nabokov makes some very important points in what he thinks a good reader should embrace. Imagination is always a good quality to have when reading to imagine or picture in your mind the surroundings, senses, emotions, struggle, and feelings each of the characters are experiencing. A good memory will help you to remember important messages or ideas the author is trying to convey throughout the book that will encompass the overall meaning of the work. An artistic sense can help to grasp the writing and help see the value of individual expression, and help broaden ones own reality with experiences and realities of an abundance of different cultures, ideas, and experiences people have experienced or imagined. A dictionary is also a useful tool to use to get a better understanding of what the author is trying to get across to the reader. Having a dictionary will also enhance a persons vocabulary, especially if you can grasp why the author chooses to use the words they use to interpret their message. So yes, I do agree with Nabokov on these descriptions of a good reader, but I also believe that there are many more things that make one a good reader.
“In order to bask in that magic a wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine.” ("Good Readers and Good Writers" Par. 2). This quote by Nabokov does not really demonstrate the attributes he listed as a good reader, but it is also something that I agree with. I think a good reader should live the characters in the writing, feel what they are feeling, and taking the journey along with them. I agree with Nabokov that bias towards an author for reviews or opinions of others is unfair to the author. Although, sometimes after reading some books I have read reviews on proved to be true, I try to keep an open mind and avoid listening to the moral majority or the opinions of allegedly authorities on good writing. "Time and space, the colors of the seasons, the movements of muscles and minds, all of these are for writers of genius(as far as we can guess and I trust we guess right) not traditional notions which may be borrowed from the circulating library of public truths but a series of unique surprises which master artists have learned to express in their own unique way." Good readers and good writers, P. 614 par. 2. I think Nabokov contradicts himself in this quote (even though I agree with it). Who is he really to determine who is a master writer and who is not? I also think that you can generalize writing into just storyteller, teacher, and enchanter. These are definitely part of writing but not limited to them. I also agree and disagree with Nabokov saying that we must reread everything to fully understand it. I have read books several times and got something different out of them each time, but I have also reread writing that I did not at all. I also think that each person is different and you cannot generalize how people comprehend what they read.
And finally, do I think that I am a good reader? I think so! I have read books that completely changed my life and gave me a whole new outlook and perspective on the world. Isn't that usually the goal of the author? But I have read books that I could not understand one bit. So, maybe I am not. I do know that I will always strive to learn new things and read a variety of different subject matter. And maybe, in a few hundred years people will look back on us as completely ignorant of truth and what is referred to as a "master writer" or reader.
