So, having raised the potential of not listening to the news so much, I am still pondering how to fit in more reading. Not loads more, just a bit more than the 10 minutes before I fall asleep. It feels like something important for various reasons.
- I like reading and like to think of myself as a reader, but in reality, I do not read very much.
- I think some books just need to be read more quickly, they don’t flow well in ten minute a day chunks. A Passage To India would be a good recent example.
- I have a list of books read this year and I want it to be long.
One solution is very obvious, but yet something stops me – get rid of social media, I definitely spend too long reading that instead of a book. “Get rid of” is the problem – I have an all or nothing attitude to it, maybe just reducing social media would do the trick really.
There are some technical solutions. Using my Kindle means I have a light book and many books with me at all times and it links to the app on my phone, so I can read on that as well.
Listening to audio books has been a revelation for me. I spent years listening to them in the car, but then realised I can listen to them anywhere since the advent of apps on a phone. At last, I appreciate Dickens, who is delicious read aloud, but I struggle with reading it from the page myself.
Another technique that seems to work for me is to have a few books on the go at a time. Sometimes, I may be enjoying a novel, but just not able to get into it at that time. That happens often when commuting, sometimes I can’t get totally lost in the book, so it needs to be something less enveloping.
Accepting that any reading is good reading feels crucial for me. I keep reverting back to Donna Leon’s Brunetti series this winter – I just need a light detective novel. It’s my reading equivalent of watching TV, I suppose. And it’s still reading.
I shall keep experimenting.
