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for his essays, there is an excellent anthology available from Penguin, 'The World-Ending Fire'.
Literature is not the (mandatory) way to get to meet intelligent people (or to be intelligent, for that matter), far from it. I'm sorry if that's the impression I gave. One of the smartest man I've ever met could not write his name and could not read.
Literature is just the best shortcut I can think of to meet among the most intelligent people humanity has ever produced through most of its (recent-ish) history. It's also the safest way I can think of to 'store intelligence' in an easily transmissible package, known as the 'book' ;)
Is a great writer. He is also much more subtle and so much more interesting to read than the... let's just say... the noticeably less subtle adaptations that were made from his excellent work by Peter Jackson. The saddest part, imho, being that countless people will only know Tolkien's work through those movies, missing out his so much more interesting, smarter, rich, and funnier books.
As far as 'meeting smart people', enjoyment of oneself is not always the best path. It's fine to have a good time, quite obviously, but sometimes it's not about that.
We live in an age that considers putting barriers of entry or demanding any semblance of effort as 'elitism', and will oftentimes be offended by such barriers. (not saying that's you, just a general remark, here). It's a mistake. And it is not elitism. It's realism (valuable work is often more demanding for a good reason: it gives more.... provided one's give it more to begin with). Like learning to play music or to become a surgeon demands a lot more work and patience than, say, learning to kiss. Even that unforgettable kiss.
We should encourage young people to read for fun, 100% agree. But we should also not lie to them and tell them reading can be very demanding too. And tell them that with reading some books the fun may lies... years away after reading it (it took me 30 years to finally be able to understand how essential Marcel Proust is as a writer, he is now one of my favorite author... barely 30 years after I first tried read his books).
Reading can be a real challenge, not only because learning to (properly) read is hard work, but also because we, as readers, will change over time (I don't enjoy the same books nearing my 60s I enjoyed a little boy... Some I still enjoy to this day, though). And because not all writers worry about making themselves easy to read. And because some topics are more demanding than others.
Reading Kant or Hegel is not fun, it's quite... demanding (and one better take copious notes while reading them), but it's also worth it.
Reading can also be a challenge because of the ‘peer pressure’.
That is something even more obvious nowadays when so many people do feel entitled in telling others what they should (not) read based on their own personal convictions and biases… very seldom on the books themselves.
So, on that last point I will disagree with you: it’s not always whatever you enjoy.
By all mean enjoy whatever you want to read and have a blast reading it, that's great, but keep in mind there are other works out there that are not just about that.
Don’t get me wrong, reading classics can be a blast too. I mean, read Homer describing combat scenes (and come talk about gore literature), or Ovid telling us about the old gods and their many tricks to fool us, Virgil, Shakespeare or Tolstoy, or Molière (the dude is as funny and smart-ass today as he was some 400 years ago), or that Aristophanes dude that past away approx 2.5k years ago that do still make people laugh to this day (women going on on a sex strike to make their (dickhead, obviously) husbands end the war, anyone?)
And so is reading Wendell Berry, for that matter: a blast (plus the opportunity to meet someone remarkably intelligent) ;)
I think we agree for the most part. I also didn't mean to imply reading literature = intelligent because I also don't believe that. The people I described are people in my life who I believe are incredibly intelligent, just not academic.
On my last point, it's my realist take. I have EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness), so even if I really really believe I will enjoy a tougher read, sometimes I can't stay awake long enough to get through a page. During those periods, I'll take the easier self help or scifi book to keep me going. But yeah, challenging ourselves is part of the joy. When I was a struggling college student, I became very depressed for a while, and I distinctly remember picking up a philosophy book at the city library and reading an excerpt about hedonism and eudaimonism which changed my outlook for the better. The idea that we need both short term pleasures and long-term purpose to feel happy/fulfilled helped me work through the challenges, making sure I still went out and had fun in between, which now I look back on with some sense of fondness and pride. I see reading a tough book that interests me in the same way.
Awesome! I'll add that to my reading list :)