How Do I Read

 

I spend a lot of ink in this space talking about what I read, whether my upcoming list of books read for the year or excerpts posted through my “Too Long for a Tweet” series. But I haven’t said much about how I read, so that’s what today’s post is for. 

As I’ve shared before, reading is many things to me: knowledge, rejuvenation, and escape. So it will come as no surprise that I have a specific approach to reading. 

I’ve been trying to balance e-reading with holding physical books. On an unrelated but clearly parallel note, I’ve been trying to treat myself, including buying books for myself. So, oftentimes I am reading two books in parallel, one on my phone and one with an actual book. 

The “actual book” time is almost always at the end of the evening, at my desk. After I’ve put Asher to bed and handled all my house errands, but before I go to sleep, I find that a physical book is better than screen time, even screen time spent reading. Plus, it is a little splurge to have some time to myself to get lost in a good read. Although, unlike my e-reading (more on this below), I tend to tackle harder and denser reads with this sliver of time, since it is relaxed and uninterrupted. I wish I could go on and on, but usually I’m good for about 15 to 30 minutes before it’s time for shut-eye. Still, over the course of a full week, that’s a good two or three hours of reading. 

Conversely, my e-reading gets squeezed into different times of the week. My commute to and from work usually affords me 15 to 20 minutes each way, so combined that’s a good couple of hours per work week just there. Plus waiting at doctor’s offices, poolside during Asher’s swim class, and other random moments when there’s nothing else to do. 

Given these shorter and interruptible windows, I tend to choose easier reads; long chapters of a non-fiction topic or an entire scene from a gripping fiction book can be hard to consume in 2- to 6-minute increments. But with a poetry book, for example, it’s easy to dip in and out without losing too much flow. When I have a good book, I am constantly using these pockets of time, and I find I’m constantly surprised at how much reading I can get in in these small bits, maybe a whole hour or two total in a 7-day period. 

There will be a point in my life when I have time to luxuriate in books much more often. Still, four to six hours a week is a good investment, given all that reading does for me. Glad for the opportunities, and for a seemingly limitless list of good reads I am still trying to get to.