How do you actually read?

andyortlieb@lemmy.sdf.org to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 88 points –

Background:

I'm in my 40s and I've always sort of beaten myself up over not being an avid reader. I go through phases where I read a bunch, sometimes I'll finish a book in a months time, sometimes start a book and forget it, sometimes it seems like I go literally years without really getting into any book at all. But I still accumulate them.

Because of how important reading is and now I "fail" to prioritize it, I've always found myself in a poor relationship with reading. I feel this artificial pressure to read things that are only important and will somehow make me more useful. I feel this artificial pressure to start one book and read it to the end. I feel this artificial pressure to become a changed person by fully investing every bit of info from every book.

I've been learning that these pressures are untenable.

I've also noticed that I partake in all kinds of things without the same expectations: tv shows, games, podcasts, media and news outlets, social media, etc.

Right now I have 6 books that I am actively reading, and I am trying to remember that it's for enjoyment and not some high level goal. Someone told me if I read 10 pages a day I would finish about 10 books a year. I found this so encouraging.

Taking the pressure off of reading has really helped me get more productive at reading, and I think it will help me convert my habit into a truly fruitful one.

So now I ask you:

  • What are your reading habits like?
  • What do you like to read?
  • What kind of stage of life are you in, and how does that affect it?
  • Have you made any changes, positive or negative, to your reading habits?
  • What else?
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  • "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov is one of the only 3 novels I have read, that are were not part of my school course.
  • Another one was some romance novel that I got as a prize for some competition I can't remember and I managed to force myself to read it until the end. Needless to say, I didn't like it. The setting was probably Victorian Era.
  • The third is an English translation of the Light Novel "Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei", which I am not sure when I intend on completing.

I am a very sloow reader. Foundation was a pretty thin book and I took months. I tend to read a little, imagine it, dream on it and have fun that way and this one turned out to work really well for that. I thought of checking out the Prelude and other parts in the series, but never went ahead with it.

I have seen myself getting intrigued by the thought the writer (may/may not have) put into the worldbuilding aspect and find myself exploring the same in my mind.

My habits: I read what I feel like, when I feel like it. I remember having borrowed picture encyclopedias from school libraries as a child and just leisurely reading them. Those things were pretty fun too.

Seconding "Foundation" soooooo much. One of my teen favorites. Also full of references to other Asimov's books, so many will get much more familiar after reading this.