This week The Blue Bookcase asks:
How do you find time to read, what's your reading style and where do you think reading literature should rank in society's priorities?
Wow. What a lot of questions, but definitely ones that need to be asked and answered.
Question 1:
How do I find time to read? Good question. Because I commute to and from work, I have time to read. While its not a lot of time to read, its time nonetheless. I also make time before I go to bed and usually read for about an hour, depending on how I am feeling. I also read while I watch sports in the evening hours or during the weekend; it helps pass the time while watching a sporting event. Its probably not the most logical way to read books, but I did it about a month ago when I was reading 2 or 3 books within the space of a few days.
But I guess to fully answer the question, I just make time for my reading. I read while I am waiting for a movie to start at the theatre or I read while I cook (it works if you are doing an audiobook at that time). I just make time for it.
Question 2:
My reading style. Well, that could take sometime to explain, but I play the Alphabet Game while I read. I started doing this about 10 years ago and I found it useful in concentrating on books (I find it especially useful when reading long sections of a book), but sometimes find myself not playing due to lack of concentration or I just get so involved in the story that I forget playing. I also read while listening to podcasts. This means that I can read for several hours without much distraction, but it also means that I also miss the conversations going on around me, particularly when its family.
I also manage to juggle several different books at one time. I know it sounds crazy, but somehow I am able to keep track of the various storylines that I am reading, but if I am away from a book for too long, the story becomes foreign to me. Speaking of which...
Question 3:
I think that literature should rank higher in society's priorities. Of course political matters that affect our daily lives should be the most important things in our lives and so should family, but I think that literature should play a more important lives than the latest sports scores or entertainment headlines. Writers should be treated like rock stars! But that is my opinion.
Hope everybody has a great weekend and I look forward to seeing what you have to say about what I have written.
4 comments:
I also read several books at once-
When I saw the question about reading as a social priority I thought about life in the ten million plus Asian city in which I reside. We have some of the biggest swankiest malls in the world, the well off live behind ten foot walls with cut class in them, and guards with sawed off shot guns, have helpers just for their pets (called a dog or cat Yaya) but we have no public libraries. Millions of kids grow up never having their own books. Once my wife and I went to an outreach at a local orphans home. We gave each of the fifty kids a book our daughters had out grown. It was almost heartbreaking to see the children hug the books.
Commuting seems to be responsible for reading time for so many people!
I'm jealous you're able to read so many books at once. I used to be able to do this in college but since then it's hard for me to focus on more than one story at a time. I end up crossing plots.
I also like to read multiple books at a time. I can't have too much of the same thing. Love variety!
Never thought of playing the alphabet game while reading. Does it slow you down?
Writers being treated as rock stars. Now there's a thought. I've often thought that thirty minutes of daily news that usually consist headlines, sport and weather should include an arts segment. Not sure if this happens anywhere else in the world, but it certainly doesn't happen in Australia.
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