Sometimes I read for pleasure, but I’ve never been the most consistently voracious reader. My reading patterns can pretty accurately described as “feast or famine.” Once I find a book I enjoy, I can’t stop myself and tend to gorge on words rather quickly. Lines, pages, chapters, and sections fly by, and the next thing I know, I’m fully immersed in a whole other world. But in between these reading binges, I’ll go months without picking up a book.
I’ve tried (not very hard) to make it a priority to read before bed time, but my bad habit of surfing the internet before sleeping has been pretty hard to kick. What normally turns on the “bookworm” switch in my brain are times when I feel like I have nothing better to do. For example, there’s literally nothing better to do when you’re on a bus or train every day. Commuting to school or work via public transportation have been the best of times in my own personal literacy. These days, though, I’m driving for an hour or so to work every day and that requires my full attention. I’ve tried audiobooks, with some success, but for the most part, I’d much rather listen to some music (and sing along sometimes) or listen to a one hour, neatly-wrapped-up podcast to entertain me or teach me new things.
Lately I’ve noticed that what helps to get me into a book is priming myself with an interest in the genre (historically, I’ve been more of a sci-fi and fantasy reader, but I’m always open to different types of stories). A few months ago Lauren lent me her copy of Gone Girl to read. She said that she had gotten a quarter of the way through the book and just couldn’t get into it. I felt the same way. I labored with connecting to it and put it down a few times, forgetting again and again to try read it. Recently, I listened to the first season of the Serial podcast and watched the first season of Broadchurch on TV. With murder-crime / drama on the brain, one night I just started reading Gone Girl again, and something clicked… I was able to break through that previous block and finished it a day or two later! My review of Gone Girl? It was good, suspenseful, and surprising. Lauren and I watched the movie last night and it translates pretty closely to the text. I would recommend it… just don’t take two or three months to get through it like I did. It should really only take a day or two.
What’s next to read? I’m not sure, but what usually draws me to a book is a good recommendation from a friend. I’ve got a long list of books that I’ve heard are great that I’ve been meaning to read… Four years ago, my friend Sam had strongly recommended his favorite book, Anna Karenina, to me. It’s currently collecting digital dust, on the Kindle Paperwhite that I bought myself after one of those summers full of reading on the train. And two years ago, my friend Alex recommended some Sci-Fi short stories (the Wool series) that I still need to check out. Wool is pretty close to making it onto my Kindle bookshelf. Hopefully writing a post about reading will make me want to read more. And maybe someday I’ll be able to permanently switch on my “reading mode” and bite chunks off of that long “to read” list.
