Sunday 7 April 2013

Feeding the need to read

I am an avid reader and reading has always been one of my favourite pastimes. As a child, I was glued to books and had pretty much read the local library dry. As an adult, I have always had 2-3 books on the go, even during painfully long reading droughts where time to enjoy a book has been practically non-existent. As a teacher, I believe the best gift you can give your child is a love of reading.

I am really enjoying reading more for pleasure these days and love to see others share my passion for the written word in its many different forms. Perhaps it's a sign of our busy times that much reading nowadays seems to happen in snippets snatched here and there? eReaders are great for that, as they're very portable and a large selection of material is always on hand, making it easy to accommodate a change of mood while reading.

I love seeing that other people also can't wait to read. During the past week, I have seen someone pull an e-reader out of their bag while queuing at the post office, a woman reading a library book at the bus stop and a man totally engrossed in a paperback while standing on a bus. Public transport has become BYOD (or maybe BYOB?), extending far beyond MP3 players and mobile phones, seeing most people glued to the next installment from their book. It seems like even a few precious moments at a time to get caught up in the world of print is enough to feed some readers' insatiable appetite for words.

We were away camping this weekend, making the most of the end of daylight saving. After setting up our tent and finding the rest of our group, we congregated in a sunny spot and a selection of books appeared. We briefly checked out each other's selections before settling into comfy positions. There were two different models of Kindle readers, an iPad, a hardback and three paperbacks all capturing the undivided attention of seven readers; we didn't talk for nearly an hour and it was absolute bliss! When the sun started playing peek-a-boo with the shade joining in to warn us that our golden run of good weather is coming to an end, extra layers of clothing appeared but our undivided attention remains on the words we were reading ... until a few drops of rain finally broke our trance. Now, that's what I call a camping trip!

How do you read? Short snippets snatched here and there or do you enjoy the luxury of long stints with a good book?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too am an avid reader, I don't watch much TV as I always have my nose buried in a book. Yes 2-3 books on the go at any given point in time. I bought a Kindle a couple of years ago and its FABULOUS, light and easy to carry around and so much CHEAPER to get books on it.

Do wish there was a good book club where you could witter about recent books/authors you have read to like minded people. I read all 3 Stieg Larssen books over Easter and OMGawesomesauce!

Dialect Of Heart said...

The camping trip sounded like a bibliophile heaven :)

I read two to three books every week,alternating between them every few chapters. My short attention span and work constraints doesn't allow me to read much during the day, but I try to find tiny pockets of time whenever I can. Most of my reading gets done after midnight and sometimes creates havoc to my sleep routine as I keep on reading 'just one more page' till dawn.

Ness said...

I love reading. It has taken a backseat while I catch up on a huge amount of television. Now that I have nearly caught up I can start reading in big blocks again. I prefer non-digital books as I like to hold something tangible.

My favourite time to read is late at night in bed or having a lazy lie in on a weekend :)