Rocco Maiolo's Ramblings and Musings

Can books change people? Well, it's a silly question, really. It's inanimate; it has no innate abilities. I think more accurate would be the question, Can people change through reading great (or really good) books? I think that a great (or really good) book is an invitation to change. According to Robert P. Waxler , co-founder of the CLTL (Change Lives through Literature program) and English Professor of the University of Massachusetts , “Deep [reading allows us to] break free from our single lives…from the linear and local perspective of ordinary existence.” My current great and really good books are One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez and the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling respectively. ............................. I started this post months ago and didn't finish. So now, I'm asking myself, Have I changed through reading the above mentioned books. How do I measure such a thing? What I remember about 100 Years, is the destructive power of isolat...

I know that this post is about 10 years behind the times -- which in web terms is about a century -- but I don't care. I'm going to blog about Harry Potter. Over 10 years ago, after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone came out, I remember hearing all the scuttlebutt among religious folk about how the book and the author were evil (into witchcraft and stuff). I remember walking into a "conversation" between a young second year teacher and a student. The student was telling the teacher that Harry Potter was evil because it had witches and spells in it and, as a Christian, he thought that that was bad -- especially since it was a book for kids. The teacher was explaining that you can't be so black and white about things and that you shouldn't judge. Truth be told, I was keeping my head low, hoping to make like Harry with his invisible cloak and not be seen. No such luck. I was stopped and asked, "Hey Rocco, you're religious. What do you think o...