I've been thinking a lot lately about reading. And when I think about it, I feel old. It makes me think back to "The good old days" of my own life, when I could get lost in a book (mostly in the bathtub), and literally pour through a story without putting it down.
College took away a lot of my love of reading. In one sense, it made me a better reader -- more critical, looking more deeply at texts, discerning more meaning. But it also sucked away a lot of the simple pleasure involved in reading. Reading because not just an escape, but work. Additionally, in today's world of short attention spans and gadgetry, I sincerely find it hard to sit down for a period and read uninterrupted...especially when it's for school. Checking my e-mail or facebook always beckons as way more important.
I have to read a biography for a class and do a presentation on an eminent person's talent development over the lifespan. I chose Walt Whitman, and the biography I am reading is 350 pages long. Which is, really, nothing. But sitting down and just getting it done is becoming a huge chore. I have to FORCE myself to read, which is sad, because frankly, it's an interesting book. I just know that I have to do it, and so that makes me WANT to do it less.
The good news is that I do still enjoy reading, in some contexts. I always have a book going for right before bed, and I rarely turn in without reading a chapter (in fact, I'm currently reading The Story of a Love about the correspondences between St. Terese of Liseux and a young priest, which was given to me by my grandmother and takes me back to childhood in another way), but I do wish I had the intense absorption mechanism still ago in regards to my reading.
With that said, I am about to head off to the gradplex lounge with ONLY my book in hand, and give it a couple hours. Perhaps eliminating distractions is the key.
2 comments:
Maybe it also takes practice, Becky. While I was in school both times (and there was a gap between, though not very long), I felt the same way. But then, done with schooling (though not, I'd like to note, with learning!), I rediscovered the loveliness of reading. It's altogether different when you're picking your own topics, as you intimate in your post.
That book about St. Therese sounds delightful!
Becky,
I've read that book, and it, for me, was an easy read and very inspirational.
Look at the fact that you are immersed in your graduate program right now and that you may have lost interest in reading for fun, in general. Over time, however, and especially when you are done with this phase of school, you will never lose that love.
Momma
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