I am still playing around here...It's now been all afternoon... well, no apologies for that, no matter what you think...anyway, I have been "visiting" in the librarything and looking up the available groups one might join there, just to entertain myself, perchance to find something amusing. And I got to a group who are discussing the question: How much time do you spend reading? It's an honest question. There were many responses. I didn't read all of them but what I read is bothering me now, and it just might bother me for a very long while.All responses claimed to read mostly 3-4 hours a day!!! Well, that's okay--what REALLY bothers me is they all claim to read 2-4 or more! books a week!! Can that be??!!??? Only one posted did somewhat admit that he/she read a lot of young adult books, which , of course, could easily be read very quickly and allow the reader to "weigh-in" with several books read in a week's time. Hmmm...okay. But are they all reading easy-readers? Are they bragging? Padding the number a bit? And does watching the book as a movie count as reading it? I've really wondered because I've "watched" many a good book as a movie or on PBS Masterpiece Theatre, and it is a good way to enjoy them. I would love to put those on my library shelf. Can I put a movie reading on my list of read books ?
But honestly, a really good book, the kind you have to think about as you go along, the FAT ones that are 3-4 inches thick...can you even read more than ONE of those a week? I realize there are exceptional people who may be reading a book everyday, as they claim to do, but just how thick is that book? Are all of the people on the Libarything post genuises? Or are they all nerds? Or am I the one truly lacking in literacy skill?
Please tell me...could YOU read a big book in a week? Of course you can do this in a couple of days if you do mostly nothing else. I know that. But most of us have a thousand other things going on in our lives as well. I just want to know. Is it really likely that all these people are telling it straightup? Well, of course they are. Why would they not? I really must start cataloging my just read books as well as the time spent reading them. Does gazing at the covers for an hour or two everyday on my Librarything shelf count as time spent reading? I must make a reading journal and endeavor to improve. Does writing the review for the book count as time reading? Okay, I'll shut up now, maybe grab a book. I do a lot of purusing. Can that count? I'm in between books right now. Do these people have a stack that they prepare ahead of time so they don't have to take time to figure out which book is next? They just grab the next one and get busy ?.........???>>>>>>>>?????????? hmmmm?????????
6 years ago
2 comments:
It's funny how I check blogs almost everyday and then boom- I've missed three!
I'll post on this one... for now. I think all the reading you do is great. In college, I felt like the more math books I "read," the slower a reader I became. Math books have to be looked at and analyzed on EVERY line. You can't just read "the dog went across the street." You have to know what kind of dog and what did he look like and how big is he and what kind of day it is. Then you have to know how exactly he went across. Fast? Slow? On a leash? Freely? And then, what kind of street was it? How big is the street? How many cars were on the street? Etc etc etc. Because you couldn't go on without those answers. Every little detail, implied or explicit, mattered! Even though I became a slow reader- those young adult novels even!- I still felt smart.
Now I feel like a very slow reader, especially if I read one of those good, thick, thinking books. I can only read so much without having to stop and let it sink in. Sometimes I don't feel smart. Especially when, once I start reading the next book, I can't remember the details of the one just finished. Like Age of Innocence. I LOVED that book. I can somewhat remember why, but I don't remember many details. In fact, if we were to discuss it, I would probably feel like we'd read two different books! It's frustrating.
But then I meet different people in the world and am reminded that I am smart- in comparison to the general public. Most people DON'T read! Can you imagine such a thing!?
So, what is my point? Don't really know. I guess just that you have to watch who you are comparing yourself to. There will always be people better and worse than you. Perhaps people do read a book a day- even the big thinker kind. But what else do they do? And do they get as much out of it? And, who really cares?
The real questions are, what are you reading? What are you thinking? What time are you putting into it? And most important of all: What do you get out of it!?
As usual, you have the wisdom of the ages. Thanks for everything you say. I've spent a lot of time visiting with people in the last year...several hours a day sometimes. And that's important...moreso than reading. So, I don't know why it's such a compulsion at this particular time. I just need to feel accomplished, I guess.
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