One of the joys of my newly-acquired free time (having just graduated! yay!) is the opportunity to read. I'd say that this reading is different than what I've been doing all year at seminary, and it sort of is, but when I look at my "to read" stack, it's pretty much all theology/church stuff. The biggest change, then, is not the books I'll be reading, but the time I have to read them - no more living in two places, no more spending hours in the car each week. I'm so excited!
Reading has always been a passion of mine. On more than one occasion I got in trouble at school for reading during class (when I was supposed to be doing something else) by tucking a book in my desk cubby. I read on the bus, under the covers with a flashlight, inside, outside...I could get lost in a book.
I loved (and still love!) going to the library - it was so organized! so quiet! so many books! - and would often peruse the fiction section for titles and covers that caught my eye. I even wanted to be a librarian for a while. It was in the years after "pediatrician" and before "teacher" and finally "pastor". Libraries are awesome in part because I read too fast to afford my reading habit (although Amazon Prime and my Kindle have been dangerous in this area!). If I find something I really like, I'll buy it and read it again and again. My favorites earn a place on the shelf, where space is a dwindling commodity.
My husband, Daniel, and I share a passion for reading, though our approach to reading is vastly different. We also share a passion for books, which is slightly problematic because of how frequently we've been moving. My approach to reading is that I devour books. Especially novels. When I open a novel, I get caught up, and everything else falls aside until I reach the back cover and come back to reality, squinting and blinking like one leaving a dark movie theater and entering the summer sunshine. This is partly why I didn't read much fiction during the school year. I couldn't afford to push everything aside and read the way I'm used to doing.
Daniel's approach to reading is more moderate. He reads in smaller chunks of time throughout the day, and might be in the midst of three or four books of different genres at a time. By his example, I'm slowly trying to adjust my reading habits to that of a productive, working adult. Also following his example, I've been keeping a list of all the books I read in the year - 48 in 2013 (not counting assigned books for class). I have a lot of catching up to do in the rest of 2014!
So, what I am reading now? Mediating Faith by Clint Schnekloth, and hopefully soon The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (I loved The Secret Life of Bees!). I also keep an eye out for anything new by Ann Patchett or Tracy Chevalier.
How do you read? What authors should I be checking out?
Reading has always been a passion of mine. On more than one occasion I got in trouble at school for reading during class (when I was supposed to be doing something else) by tucking a book in my desk cubby. I read on the bus, under the covers with a flashlight, inside, outside...I could get lost in a book.
I loved (and still love!) going to the library - it was so organized! so quiet! so many books! - and would often peruse the fiction section for titles and covers that caught my eye. I even wanted to be a librarian for a while. It was in the years after "pediatrician" and before "teacher" and finally "pastor". Libraries are awesome in part because I read too fast to afford my reading habit (although Amazon Prime and my Kindle have been dangerous in this area!). If I find something I really like, I'll buy it and read it again and again. My favorites earn a place on the shelf, where space is a dwindling commodity.
My husband, Daniel, and I share a passion for reading, though our approach to reading is vastly different. We also share a passion for books, which is slightly problematic because of how frequently we've been moving. My approach to reading is that I devour books. Especially novels. When I open a novel, I get caught up, and everything else falls aside until I reach the back cover and come back to reality, squinting and blinking like one leaving a dark movie theater and entering the summer sunshine. This is partly why I didn't read much fiction during the school year. I couldn't afford to push everything aside and read the way I'm used to doing.
Daniel's approach to reading is more moderate. He reads in smaller chunks of time throughout the day, and might be in the midst of three or four books of different genres at a time. By his example, I'm slowly trying to adjust my reading habits to that of a productive, working adult. Also following his example, I've been keeping a list of all the books I read in the year - 48 in 2013 (not counting assigned books for class). I have a lot of catching up to do in the rest of 2014!
So, what I am reading now? Mediating Faith by Clint Schnekloth, and hopefully soon The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (I loved The Secret Life of Bees!). I also keep an eye out for anything new by Ann Patchett or Tracy Chevalier.
How do you read? What authors should I be checking out?
I had your site bookmarked on my phone and decided to read this post during our flight layover in Houston! Better late than never...? :)
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with reading a lot more once I left college, it's like something clicked in my mind that made reading fun again when it wasn't mandatory for class discussion, or wasn't restricted to non-fiction dry material from professors who updated their textbooks every few years to maintain a steady revenue stream...
My reading became similar to Daniel's- and was mostly "location based" in the sense that I would keep varying titles and genres in different areas- a book in my car, one on my nightstand, one in my office desk, etc. But this felt very un-productive where I would lose interest in the books that seemed like worthwhile stories at one point.
My reading habits also succumbed to the culture of online reading, following one wormhole link after another as I devoured current events or relevant information on my favorite topic of personal finance. Books have a finite nature that gives me an intangible sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that reading a blog or online article will never provide. When attempting to read from cover to cover, I like a mix of non-fiction history, business, or biography, while my fiction preferences are odd and random: from late 19th century high society British comedy to biblical allegories, I like to read fiction with a fun and layered plot. Amy keeps trying to have me read more mystery/suspense novels too. Most of my reading is actually listening to audiobooks which help me focus during long drives when I'm not listening to podcasts.