On reading

[electricland]

I was lying in bed this morning listening to Fresh Air when up popped a discussion with David Michael Lamb (who, let me say right off, I like and respect). He has made a commitment to read 52 books this year. Excellent, well done him -- except several things about the segment struck me as bizarre:

• For starters, DML said he had barely read a book since university. This floored me. (He reads magazines and newspapers for work, at least.) The assumption that "everybody wants to read more books but nobody has the time" just does not apply to me. Last year, as I am in a position to state with absolute certainty, I read 154 books. This doesn't include rereads, of which there were also many. Reading is my drug of choice, the thing I do on the streetcar and in bed and waiting for the doctor and on weekends and on vacation and often while I'm watching TV or eating. The concept of not having time to read books does not fit anywhere in my head. It's like not having time to eat food. What?
• That said, listening to the segment I felt like my reading habits probably wouldn't measure up. The books mentioned were Tomes of Serious Literature: Hard Times (or possibly Bleak House, it was early), War and Peace, Freedom, The Old Man and the Sea. If you measure by these standards, I barely read at all. I read fantasy and mysteries and romance and YA and historical fiction and, well, fun stuff. Occasionally I read Serious Literature, but only once in a blue moon. (I should probably make more of an attempt.) My non-fiction reading might, MIGHT come close to meeting the bar. Maybe.

Why this weird, arbitrary dichotomy? No books at all, or 52 Serious Important books? Why does reading for pleasure have to be good for you? The "publishing consultant" (who also seemed very nice, don't get me wrong) kept saying "It's all about reading things you wouldn't normally read," but... he's not normally reading ANYTHING, so why limit yourself?

In a final note of weirdness, all participants in the discussion live in Toronto, yet the library never came up.

I just dunno. What do you think?

Comments

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? There are people who claim they don't have time to read? How is that possible?? Yeah, that's as weird to me as people who forget to eat lunch. WHAT?! Weird. Very weird.

I don't get the Yo Must Read Only Improving Things idea - that's probably why they claim to have no time to read. Who wants to find time to read Moby Dick?! And I think you can get something out of any book, whether it's Mercedes Lackey or Dostoevsky, so why not just read the one that interests you more?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

There's nothing worse than reading out of a sense of obligation! (One reason I'm not in a book club any more. I never liked the books that were picked.)

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Hehe, yes! I keep thinking of joining a book club, but,yeah, I don't like HAVING to read something. What if that's not what I'm in the mood for?!

[raithen.livejournal.com]

Words from a long time grad student in English: read for a living -- it makes reading for pleasure less fun. Even if you read fun stuff :)

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

I agree with pretty much everything you said. I've been making an effort to read more "serious" literature for the past year, and it has (generally) been better than I expected, but I alternate with genre novels.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I think that *is* a really odd dichotomy, and also that it might be why he (and others) don't have time to read - because time to read a Weighty Tome is going to be scarcer than time to read something entertaining. (Legitimately so. Those books don't just require actual eyeballs-aimed-at-page time, but comprehension, absorption and contemplation time.) Not to mention, as you say, that reading out of obligation will make it about as enjoyable a chore as cleaning the toilet, and about as likely to find time carved out regularly for it.

I read 388 books last year. Probably fewer than 52 counted as serious literature. I'm OK with that. Although I have to add that I'm not at all surprised, but somewhat delighted, that your list of genres almost entirely matches my favorites. :)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

...I do, actually. Double major in Spanish and English literature, paid to read constantly for my job (though not generally literature or the sorts of stuff grad students are saddled with!).

And I still read for pleasure even more voraciously than before. :) To be fair, that's partly because reading lighter stuff *relaxes* me after the kind of work I have to do.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

and why not? Life is too short to read books you don't enjoy, say I.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

So true. I found it really weird that even the possibility of lighter reading just never came up in the conversation!

and re the genres, yay! Incidentally GoodReads, which I just updated the link to above, is RUINING MY LIFE, although I think I have got my listing-and-cataloguing habit down to a manageable size after the first few heady weeks.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

This is probably one of the reasons I never considered doing an English degree. ;)

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

I find it very difficult to fit reading into my schedule, and I love reading. In fact, one of the reasons I take tropical vacations is so I can pack 5-10 books in my suitcase, and have uninterrupted reading time by the pool.

Also, I found when I quit smoking, my reading time diminished, just like when I quit smoking, I stopped taking breaks at work. Apparently, I filled that time with other things. :(

[electricland.livejournal.com]

oh dear! When you do read, what do you read? Fun stuff, Serious Literature, a mixture, or is Serious Literature fun stuff for you?

(I have a sneaking suspicion I would be a lot more productive if I read less. Not really planning to try it though.)

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

Heh. I joined Goodreads like 2 years ago, did stuff on it for like a week, and then forgot about it until a week or so ago, and now I am trying to remember ALL OF THE BOOKS, and, of course, failing, and wanting to post a disclaimer on my profile saying "This doesn't include EVERYTHING!! I READ MORE THAN THIS IN 2 YEARS, I SWEAR!!!" ;)

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I actually started writing down everything I read in a little notebook last year, and much to my own surprise I kept it up ALL YEAR. Then I entered it. Now there's just everything else I've ever read in my life. ;)

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

Exactly.
I just noticed your userpic. I love it. :)

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

More often these days its serious literature, especially since I'm trying to find time for it. Although last year, and the year before I read almost everything by Christopher Moore, and started at least one by Robert Rankin. And while they're very intelligent authors, I would never call them serious literature.

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

This is what my friend, who is a criminal defense attorney, tells me. Not only does he work all day, but his life is pretty much relegated to super-long workdays (including working on his hour+ each way commute), followed by squeezing in as much wife-and-daughter time as possible before passing out from sheer exhaustion.

He's probably the only person I know that I can't challenge on the 'I don't have time to read' front. He also doesn't have time for things like television, movies or 'going out with friends'.

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

Despite my LOVE of physical-books, I'm actually considering getting a Kobo just to facilitate those 2-3 times a year when I go away and want to bring a ton of reading material with me. Just think of the suitcase weight it'd free up, not to mention, not having to agonize over which book(s) to bring on the plane and which to pack away...

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

Well, you know I've been toying over an e-reader for some time - it would help facilitate the vacation baggage issue, and it would make it easier for me to read on my short subway ride. I also realized that I did a lot more reading on the subway 10 years ago, when in the afternoon, I would take the loop all the way around to Eglinton W stn. Between moving to Coxwell, and quitting smoking, I eliminated the two parts of my routine that allowed for significant reading time.

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

I only read 18 books last year, and let me tell you, I was shocked by this number. I used to read way more, though when I switched from a long commute to a short commute to a walking commute, I definitely felt that loss of reading time.

Last year, however, I have to blame the iPhone. I used to always have a book on my in case I had time to kill, but the iPhone became a decent time-killer, and so if I was reading a big, cumbersome book (and a lot of the books I read are physically cumbersome), I might leave it behind knowing that at least I wouldn't be left waiting somewhere at loose ends.

I'm making a point this year to make time for reading. I know I sometimes feel like I don't have time for it, but... I always find time to go for drinks with my friends, or to follow an awful lot of TV shows. And yet I enjoy a good book more than even a good TV show, let alone some of the mediocre stuff I've checked out in the past year.

Starting in January, I have taken to wandering to a part of the condo away from my technology blackhole (laptop hooked up to a large flatscren monitor, set to split the desktop so I can work/play and watch TV at the same time), book in hand, and making time to actually just sit, read and enjoy like I used to. I'm less for reading before bed these days as usually by the time I get there, I'm ready to sleep. I'm actually in the process of doing some redecorating in my bedroom and setting up a reading nook (bookshelves, comfy chair and good reading light all together in one corner) is the next phase.

As for what I read, I'd say mostly contemporary literature (lots of CanLit, but also lots of stuff from around the world). Not the important stuff of the Western canon (though I have read much of that and still pick up one or two from time to time), but not the super-fluffy stuff, either. For me, contemporary lit is the fun stuff. :-)

[themusesbitch.livejournal.com]

Oops. I wrote an essay. Sorry ;-)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I can see how it might! I've been sort of afraid to get intrigued by it for that reason. :) Since I have my own little notebook (going back to 2005) and enter it all in a plain text document... but ooooh, listing and cataloguing still sounds like SO much fun.