The Importance of Reading

I was chatting with a co-worker over IM earlier today. Somehow, the topic of reading came up.

I started going into what types of books I enjoy most.

She replies (paraphrasing), "I hate reading. Reading is boring. Books suck. I only like to read facts...."

And I thought to myself, "I don't think I've ever been so offended."

Now... this person is otherwise cool. But to me, reading is one of the neatest, most beneficial (emotionally, intellectually, etc.) activities available to us. And here she is, spitting in literature's eye! Well what could I do but insult her back? She had ripped on my beloved literature, my favored act of reading.

I made some hint to the effect that her statements made her sound like an uneducated, dumb hick. Well... of course I didn't say that, but man, that's what I was thinking. What more could one say to convey that he or she doesn't care about learning or imagination, than to say that she hates reading?

(She'd said something about entering chat rooms for the sake of fomenting her imagination, as opposed to reading books to do so... to which I replied "Yeah, and aside from being fun, a good thing about chat rooms is that they really exercise your brain..."). My statement positively oozed sarcasm.

I am still somewhat troubled. I've never wanted to convert anyone -- to any cause aside from Christianity -- as much as I feel like bashing her over the head with a book (figuratively) and leading her to the light of literature.

How horrified would y'all be if someone made such a ghastly admission, if someone denounced one of our greatest achievements ever -- the written word? Would you go into shock/defense mode as I did? I bet Frost, Whitman, Shakespeare, Faulkner, Hemingway, Poe (et al.) are rolling over in their graves.

I'm now going to take a deep breath and attempt to enjoy the rest of my day here at work. Maybe I'll get her a book for Christmas or something. Ahhhh, that's better.