Summary of Have we lost the art of reading?

Overview of It's Been a Minute — "Have we lost the art of reading?"

This episode (host Brittany Luce) examines how modern readers, politics, and social media shape—or distort—how we understand classic literature. Guests Andrew Limbong (NPR Books) and writer/cultural critic Princess Weeks discuss misreadings of famous novels, what those misinterpretations reveal about readers and culture, and whether close reading and literary context still function as a form of media literacy.

Topics discussed

• The optics and irony of a Great Gatsby–themed White House/Halloween party (and how the novel actually critiques, not celebrates, excess).
• Classic novels frequently misread today: The Great Gatsby, Lolita, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Wuthering Heights, Lord of the Rings.
• How different readers can legitimately draw very different meanings from the same text.
• The limits of surface reading and the value of contextual, theoretical, or historical literacy.
• The role of BookTok and social media in shaping reading habits, taste, and the commercialization of books.
• Education and curriculum issues: whether schools teach literature in a way that builds media/literary literacy for diverse students.

Key takeaways

• Misreading is common and not always malicious: readers often approach books for pleasure, aesthetics, or identity-building rather than deep contextual analysis.
• Some misreadings are consequential: invoking a text to justify or celebrate the opposite of its message (e.g., Gatsby parties that miss the novel’s critique of wealth) reveals shallow engagement.
• Literature’s strength: a single text can produce multiple, even conflicting, interpretations—this pluralism is part of literary value (as long as readings are in good faith).
• Context matters: author background, historic moment, race/class subtext, and publication history can dramatically change what a novel is “about.”
• Social platforms (like BookTok) democratize reading but also incentivize surface-level consumption, positivity for brand deals, and aesthetics over critical engagement.
• Teaching needs to bridge basic literary skills with media literacy and historical context to make classics relevant and understandable to diverse students.

Books commonly misread (examples and why)

• The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

  • Misread as a celebration of wealth and partying; actually a critique of performative wealth and moral emptiness. The line “a little party never killed nobody” was used ironically at a political event—but in the novel a party contributes to tragedy.

• Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)

  • Often mistaken as endorsing pedophilia. Nabokov’s prose presents Humbert Humbert as a manipulative, unreliable narrator; the book indicts—not celebrates—his delusions and crimes.

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

  • Written as an anti-slavery moral appeal to largely white readers of its time; later appropriation led to minstrel-style adaptations and the distorted modern meaning of “Uncle Tom.” The original context and intent are often lost.

• Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

  • Heathcliff’s “darkness” has historically been racialized; modern adaptations and casting choices (e.g., debates about Jacob Elordi) revive questions about race, class, and textual evidence that are too often overlooked.

• The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)

  • Readings range widely: spiritual/Christian elements, environmental themes, nationalist co-optations, or purely adventure narratives. Tolkien’s personal faith and letters inform some interpretations; readers’ backgrounds shape others (e.g., J.D. Vance’s conservative reading).

Notable quotes

• Andrew Limbong: “If everyone reads a book and 100% of its audience goes away thinking that was about X, I think that's a signal that that was just propaganda.”
• Princess Weeks on BookTok: “A lot of BookTok is not necessarily about reading, but the capitalism of owning books… it is brand building. It is marketing for certain publishers and certain titles.”
• On reading for pleasure vs. analysis: enjoyment can be legitimate; not every reader will (or needs to) unpack every historical or theoretical layer.

Practical recommendations (for readers, educators, creators)

• Readers: enjoy books for pleasure but—when a text feels culturally or politically important—seek context: author background, historical setting, and critical essays to deepen understanding.
• Educators: integrate media literacy with literature instruction—teach historical context, author intent, and theory in accessible ways to show relevance to diverse students.
• Content creators/BookTokers: be transparent when content is promotional; balance enthusiasm with critical engagement where possible.
• Institutions/publishers: include contextual forewords or accessible guides for classics to reduce misreadings and make texts more approachable.

Why this matters

How we read literature shapes public discourse—misreadings can be innocuous, aesthetic, or politically consequential. Reclaiming contextual reading and media-literacy skills helps readers better understand art and the real-world issues texts reflect or critique. Literature can still teach us to interpret and interrogate culture—if readers and institutions do the work to connect the page to its wider contexts.