Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one who feels guilty about reading for pleasure!! I also can't pinpoint when this happened - I know I used not to have any problem sitting down with a book. Now I find that I can just about convince myself that reading non-fiction is acceptable - possibly because I only tend to read a chapter or so in one sitting. Whereas fiction I only seem able to binge - meaning I lose sleep sitting up until the early hours, unable to put down the book! Maybe I'm just out of practice and actually the solution is to read fiction more often (just not at bedtime?!)
A kindred spirit, Ali. I'm not sure how to overcome this difficulty. So many things clamouring to be prioritised that we neglect reading for pleasure? It's unfathomable! 😭
Totally! Actually, I'd extend it to anything I used to do to 'relax' - reading, knitting/crochet/crafts, jigsaws - anything where I sit down, really, and just have some time doing things I enjoy. I've just finished reading Oliver Burkeman's '4000 Weeks' - about how we only have a finite time alive and we need to relearn how to spend it doing things that bring us joy, rather than things we feel we 'should'. And that if we always 'put off' these things for when we've done other, more 'worthy' things, we'll just never do them. I'm definitely guilty of this - I think I might try consciously deciding to 'rest' first - and then get to the chores if there's time (or certainly, see if I can squeeze them into shorter windows!)
We need to channel our inner Oliver Burkeman! It is so true that we often categorise things that give us joy as needing to be a reward, or done only after all those things that are less joyful have been completed. What strange and complex minds we have!
It takes me so long to read a book now!!! As a child I loved reading and was always the first place on the wall chart at middle school for how many books we (each pupil) had read that term. But as an adult it takes me an absolute age to read anything, this year I’ve only managed 1 1/3 of a book so far, and they are quite skinny. I do love a bookshop though and my current book is the second in a series set in a Japanese used book store, in the used book store district of Tokyo. I’m fascinated with Japan and the unique smell of a book store, so the fact it’s taking me ages to read i am completely enjoying, savouring what I’m reading and even thinking about that little book store in that little book in between sparsely spread time that I do get to read is genuinely wonderful. So it may take me a while to read a book, but I’m actually not mad about it!
P.s. I also buy more when I already have so many yet to have their cover opened
“More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop” by Satoshi Yagosawal translated by Eric Ozawa. I bought the first in the series at Main Street Trading in St Boswells (amazing shop), and the this second one I purchased at a tiny little shed book store at Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick in August
Haha....what an invitation!! I guess my approach to reading is completely the opposite to yours, Jackie! But strangely, the outworking brings me to a similar position. It takes me for ever to finish any individual book. I read for pleasure - but may have three or four books going at any one time. Some I start one and never finish it because my interest is not sustained. Some I start and they overtake on the near side, because, for whatever reason, they are immediately relevant. Some, like poetry, I, without guilt or hesitation, read just one page of, and some (usually text books from my own particular disciplines), I open to the relevant pages, read what I need, get sidetracked onto other pages, and promise myself I will come back to read the whole book and never do! Some I even dip into to find out if an author seems interesting enough to invite to a literary festival!!
So....by my chair (just emerged from one of my bookshelves after two years) is Amy Liptrot's amazing memoir "The Outrun", because we have just seen the movie; by my bed is Mary McAleese's autobiography - what an extraordinary story of lifelong peacemaking; on my desk - snap - Len Pennie's "Poyums" - such a powerful story she has to tell; and in the pile of dipped into.....too many to list.
But, when asked 'Have I read all the books on our bookshelves?', I unashamedly answer, 'No, But I might.' Nothing distresses me more than to go into a house with no sign of books (or pictures, or music.......). How is the imagination to sparkle?
What a super life in reading you outline. I am so glad that you have found the knack of reading for joy without guilt. Here’s to that! I’m also glad to learn that, like me, you have various piles of books in different rooms. Books in every room - that’s my motto.
Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one who feels guilty about reading for pleasure!! I also can't pinpoint when this happened - I know I used not to have any problem sitting down with a book. Now I find that I can just about convince myself that reading non-fiction is acceptable - possibly because I only tend to read a chapter or so in one sitting. Whereas fiction I only seem able to binge - meaning I lose sleep sitting up until the early hours, unable to put down the book! Maybe I'm just out of practice and actually the solution is to read fiction more often (just not at bedtime?!)
A kindred spirit, Ali. I'm not sure how to overcome this difficulty. So many things clamouring to be prioritised that we neglect reading for pleasure? It's unfathomable! 😭
Totally! Actually, I'd extend it to anything I used to do to 'relax' - reading, knitting/crochet/crafts, jigsaws - anything where I sit down, really, and just have some time doing things I enjoy. I've just finished reading Oliver Burkeman's '4000 Weeks' - about how we only have a finite time alive and we need to relearn how to spend it doing things that bring us joy, rather than things we feel we 'should'. And that if we always 'put off' these things for when we've done other, more 'worthy' things, we'll just never do them. I'm definitely guilty of this - I think I might try consciously deciding to 'rest' first - and then get to the chores if there's time (or certainly, see if I can squeeze them into shorter windows!)
We need to channel our inner Oliver Burkeman! It is so true that we often categorise things that give us joy as needing to be a reward, or done only after all those things that are less joyful have been completed. What strange and complex minds we have!
It takes me so long to read a book now!!! As a child I loved reading and was always the first place on the wall chart at middle school for how many books we (each pupil) had read that term. But as an adult it takes me an absolute age to read anything, this year I’ve only managed 1 1/3 of a book so far, and they are quite skinny. I do love a bookshop though and my current book is the second in a series set in a Japanese used book store, in the used book store district of Tokyo. I’m fascinated with Japan and the unique smell of a book store, so the fact it’s taking me ages to read i am completely enjoying, savouring what I’m reading and even thinking about that little book store in that little book in between sparsely spread time that I do get to read is genuinely wonderful. So it may take me a while to read a book, but I’m actually not mad about it!
P.s. I also buy more when I already have so many yet to have their cover opened
Here's to slow reading, Hannah! 😊 And the sheer joy of savouring words. I love the sound of your book. What's the title? x
“More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop” by Satoshi Yagosawal translated by Eric Ozawa. I bought the first in the series at Main Street Trading in St Boswells (amazing shop), and the this second one I purchased at a tiny little shed book store at Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick in August
I love that you bought your books in delightful places too!
Haha....what an invitation!! I guess my approach to reading is completely the opposite to yours, Jackie! But strangely, the outworking brings me to a similar position. It takes me for ever to finish any individual book. I read for pleasure - but may have three or four books going at any one time. Some I start one and never finish it because my interest is not sustained. Some I start and they overtake on the near side, because, for whatever reason, they are immediately relevant. Some, like poetry, I, without guilt or hesitation, read just one page of, and some (usually text books from my own particular disciplines), I open to the relevant pages, read what I need, get sidetracked onto other pages, and promise myself I will come back to read the whole book and never do! Some I even dip into to find out if an author seems interesting enough to invite to a literary festival!!
So....by my chair (just emerged from one of my bookshelves after two years) is Amy Liptrot's amazing memoir "The Outrun", because we have just seen the movie; by my bed is Mary McAleese's autobiography - what an extraordinary story of lifelong peacemaking; on my desk - snap - Len Pennie's "Poyums" - such a powerful story she has to tell; and in the pile of dipped into.....too many to list.
But, when asked 'Have I read all the books on our bookshelves?', I unashamedly answer, 'No, But I might.' Nothing distresses me more than to go into a house with no sign of books (or pictures, or music.......). How is the imagination to sparkle?
What a super life in reading you outline. I am so glad that you have found the knack of reading for joy without guilt. Here’s to that! I’m also glad to learn that, like me, you have various piles of books in different rooms. Books in every room - that’s my motto.