When do you read? How do you read? How much do you read?

[darkemeralds]

I'm at a crossroads. No, not the demon-summoning kind. I have almost completely lost the ability to sit and read, but I want to read.

For a few years it was just books, while I was still readily able to enjoy masses of fic, and ebooks, on a portable device. Regardless of format/medium, I still loved losing myself in a story.

Now it's everything. I can't seem to sit and read anymore.

The internet is largely to blame: I recognize its adverse impact on my attention span, and that impact seems to be extreme in my case. I also acknowledge that in swapping an hour's daily commute by bus for the same commute by bike, I've exchanged one of my best reading moments for an exercise moment.

But it's not just about time. I have more time, because I've cut television hours down to two or three a week; my day to day life is pretty orderly, and frankly I pay people to do the time-consuming stuff I don't like; I need the same amount of sleep I've always needed; and my social life has taken no extraordinary leaps.

So

• Do you read books? In what formats?
• How would you describe your relationship to reading?
• How much do you read--hours per week, books per month, however you measure it?
• When? Under what circumstances?
• Is there something you specifically don't do to make time for reading?
• Have you noticed a decline in attention--in the ability to sit and read? And if so, how do you deal with it?

I'd really like to know.

Comments

[cookiemom6067]

I remember nearly 20 years ago, as I was eating lunch in the office cafeteria, someone that had observed my voracious reading habits stopping to ask me "how I motivated myself to read." It was such a foreign concept to me, because if anything, I had to motivate myself to STOP reading.

It still is pretty foreign - and maybe I should give myself a break on the "preferring fanfic" front. I'm falling into the snobby attitude trap of people that don't read it - that it must be unworthy, even when I KNOW BETTER.

It's like anything - there are good writers and mediocre writers and poor writers. There is a HELL of a lot of stuff - your massive achievement with "Restraint" being an incredible example - that is far superior to many books I've consumed on wood pulp and ink.

However, I might now get a taste of my lunchtime inquisitor's attitude when it comes to the "harder" reading that I've not been doing.

Partly as a result of this meme, partly as a result of some references in a fanfic I recently read, I actually went to the library yesterday and checked out a couple of books - one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and one Neil Gaiman. I read about 20 pages of Pratchett's "The Time Thief" before going to sleep. His lack of chapter breaks is actually an encouragement to not beat myself up with a one-chapter-a-day requirement (my first inclination).

It helps that the book is light and clever - two of my personal earmarks of an excellent read.

I have never overcome my addiction to bedtime reading - I can NOT sleep without it. This has resulted in sleep disruptions due to my computer's LED screen.

Anything that requires consideration and action, which calls on our reserves of emotional strength is going to be so much harder if we're under stress.

[darkemeralds]

You're the second person today, in this thread, to mention the sleep-disrupting effects of an LED screen. I had no idea. It makes me lean more than ever towards a Kindle, as digital ink doesn't flicker.

I think you're smart to set aside considerations of "literary merit" in your reading. There are plenty (plenty!) of people out there who would turn their nose up at Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman simply because they're genre writers. I like a great piece of literary fiction as much as the next snob, but I'm not drawn to it for comfort the way I am to genre writing--and fanfic is genre writing. It's its own genre.

I'm making a bit of progress on my own re-motivation to read project: I'm putting in 15 to 30 minutes before sleep, and the commitment has also revitalized my commitment to the vision exercises I was having a hard time making myself do. So this whole conversation has begun to turn things around a bit for me.

Another thing it has made me realize--and this may be relevant to your interests--is that adding another item to my To-Do List when I'm already too busy to read is probably not my best strategy. I need to relax a little. And lo and behold, focusing on that--on de-stressing and relaxing--has suddenly loosened up my time, just enough to enjoy a bit of reading.