Some of you will be familiar and concerned with the following question:
How should I live my life?
If this question matters to you, then you can consider yourself, on some level, a responsible person. You are responsive to the world around you, the people you interact with, the influence you have on your environment, etc.
To be a responsible reader, you have to adopt a similar mindset about the language and ideas of an artist of words. You will ask a similar question:
How should I read this work?
If this question matters to you, then you will grow into being a responsible reader, and a better reader. If you are responsive to the world of the work, the characters who reside there, the influence of your interpretation on the way you judge the work, etc., then you might find that reading is, after all, extremely intense. If you are one of those people who claim to be "bad at reading," reconsider how your own attitude about reading might be getting in the way of a richer experience.
