The Ink-Pot and the Palette

Wow--what you describe is so similar to what I'm experiencing! I don't read on my laptop much, only the occasional short fic, and of course, numerous blogs (but--heh--I do a lot of that during the workday, so it's not like it's stealing time that I'd otherwise spend with a book open in my hands).

The funny thing is, we read constantly, but as you say, in snippets, without full attention. One of the greatest moments in all my memory is from the time when I was about seven years old and discovered the joy of reading a book without pictures. It was, as I recall, a Nancy Drew mystery (its own kind of crack, back in the day), and I have a vivid memory of looking up after two whole hours and realizing that I had been somewhere else, in that other world with Nancy and Bess and George and poor Kissless Ned.

It makes me sad to have lost that. I don't know if I can ever really get it back--too much critical faculty operating, too much writing under my own belt, not nearly enough suspension of disbelief anymore--but some part of just the sheer joy of sitting and reading (regardless of delivery method) really would be nice to regain, wouldn't it?