How long does it take you to read a book? Let’s say a normal 300-page novel.
I’m embarrassed at how slow I am. There are a number of reasons for this:
1. I fall asleep when I read. This means that on a good night I might get through 6 pages, then my book falls on my face.
2. I feel guilty about reading. I feel like if I’m at home I should be doing something more productive. Cleaning up clutter is a whole other post.
3. I can’t read in a moving vehicle. Therefore bus and Metro are out.
4. I read all day at work, so lunch hour is out because I need to take a break from reading at mid-day.
My all-time slowness record is Ulysses. Which I took out of the library and had to renew for 7 months until I finally finished it. I know it’s not a regular novel, but still 7 months is ridiculous.
Right now I’m finishing up Pillars of the Earth. It’s taken forever. It’s about 950 pages and for the first 700 pages I was okay with it. I didn’t think it was great, but I made decent progress. Suddenly one day, I lost interest in the book. Completely. So for 2 weeks I didn’t pick it up. Then I thought, come on, I’ve invested the time into reading 700 pages, I have to finish this thing. So I’ve got about 40 pages left. Worst thing is, it won’t feel like an accomplishment when I finish it. I’ll just think “thank god that’s over.” But, at the same time, I can’t just drop it. I really don’t care what happens to the characters, but I’m stuck.
I remember when I was a kid seeing a MAD Magazine feature that showed a guy’s New Year’s Resolutions over a span of 10 or 20 years. The first year it said something like “Read 20 good books a year”, then it went to 10, then to 5, and in the last panel it said “Finish ‘Airport’”. I always thought that was funny. Now it's too close for comfort.
3 comments:
Unlike you I can read in a moving vehicle. I plow through a book or two a week. But then I'm not really reading at work. More compiling stuff. I read at lunch, when I'm in line and whilst watching CNN. Domestic that is. Even I'll put my book down when Shihab is on air.
I can't read in a moving vehicle either- I get sick. I read pretty fast though and can usually finish a book in about two or three days. I read after my son goes to bed though, and I'll keep at it for about two hours at a time. The only time I fall asleep reading is if I've had cold medicine, which was the case last night.
Isn't cold medicine wonderful? I'm a Nyquil woman myself. One capful and I'm out like a light. I'm convinced that stuff is addictive.
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