Reading is my friend
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember – for as long as I could read, probably, or just about. I devoured books until I got to college, because after freshman year with the absurd amount of novels I read that year, I just didn’t have time or inclination to read for pleasure anymore. I can still get through your average fantasy novel without much trouble because all I am doing is reading for the story, for the most part. The writing in the fantasy books I read is usually nothing outstanding, but definitely averages out in the adequate-to-good range, so I don’t worry about soaking up the language.
When I read more literary fiction, the writing is often subtler, because that’s the kind of writing I like best. I studied linguistics; I think it’s pretty obvious that I like language. It takes me a little longer to read these books because I am concerned with catching the turns of phrase and the humor or irony that is so delicately placed. My favorite examples are, of course, Douglas Adams, my hero, the master of understated insanity, and Johnathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, two of my favorite novels. The writing in both novels is extraordinary, and the humor and emotion buried just under the surface in Everything is Illuminated astounds and amazes me still.
Other fiction which takes me a long time to read is simply more dense and therefore must take more time to complete, despite my high reading speeds. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series – of which I have read ten books, while in high school, and am preparing to read the rest – is quite dense. It’s about the naval war between England and France at the beginning of the 19th century, the Napoleonic conflicts (and I believe beyond as well – I don’t know the exact time frame the series encompasses, and it’s written in a very detailed manner, with regard to the characters, their actions, the war and battles, and descriptions of places and adventures, etc.
The books it takes me longer still to read are historical books, biographies and histories, which I started to read in high school. I had an odd pattern of alternation, so I could take a break from heavier or more dense, information-wise, writing: I would read all (or sometimes just part) of a biography or history book, then read some sci fi/fantasy/young adult/simpler fiction novel in a day or two, then get back to the non-fiction for a while, and repeat. When I realized how much I did like history, these books became a large part of my “to read” list and so I know I have nearly innumerable hours of reading ahead of me from these works alone.
Something else that doesn’t help with respect to the sheer number of books I want to read is that I tend to go for books with some sort of mythology, be it based in actual mythology or the mythology of a created universe. Books with mythologies tend to come in series, or at least trilogies or cycles. For instance, when I gave Stargate: SG-1 a try last fall, I ended up staying with it because I liked the way they did tie in their universe with actual Earth mythology. I thought they did a good job of integrating their ideas into the existing history and mythology. It helped in the end that a few things in which I am greatly interested are Arthurian legend, Norse mythology, and ancient Egyptian myths – that’s why I stuck it out, because, as anyone who has watched SG-1 can tell you, the first seasons are just okay. (Doctor Who does that pretty well, too, if also rather cheekily. Makes it more enjoyable!) After watching a little of Legend of the Seeker (I think the first season, which, while still only mediocre, was about 1000x better than the second/final season), I thought I’d give the Sword of Truth series a try, and I read all eleven of those monstrous books in short order. The books are better than the series based on them, that’s almost indisputable in this case.
I’ve been watching so much TV for a while now because it’s taken the place of my book-stories. What I mean is, the film-stories I’ve been watching are primarily sci-fi/fantasy stuff, and many of them are okay-to-good, if they’re lucky. A few have also been just bad-to-mediocre (Legend of the Seeker, anyone?), but those series in particular had a huge advantage over the sci-fi/fantasy books I would have read in their stead – I could do something else while “watching” these shows – problem sets, chatting with friends, emailing, researching, writing papers on occasion, and so forth. I could get my dose of science fiction through another medium, so I didn’t need to read as much.
I am tired of having neither the time nor mental capacity to read. I am about to be done with academic reading for a goodly period of time, and while I know that other activities will take my free time and more time, I can begin making time for reading again, starting now. I’ve already made an effort to just quit watching so much TV, and that effort will continue for a while.
I have time to do some reading, in times where I used to read, instead of watching TV or movies. For instance, I would always read during meals, whenever I could, and I always read myself to sleep at night in middle school and high school. Those are the easiest times to bring reading back into my life. By the time I’m turning in my thesis, I’ll be starting the pedagogy portion of my teacher training, meaning I will have class 12 hours/week, in the evenings, homework on top of that, and (I hope) be working full time or damn close to it. If I’m not employed then, I’ll be searching for jobs constantly during the day, so I’ll still be busy.
Anyone else an avid reader? Having trouble finding time for your books? Care to share what you’re reading? Use Goodreads?! (I’m trying to use Goodreads now; I have an account but am only just starting to use it, at the urging of some work friends I like to share books with.)
The next books I’ll be reading, in order: bottom first, top last.
R of the P 