I've been thinking recently about how much faster I used to read compared with how fast I read now. I've been telling myself that I do it on purpose so that I can better appreciate the words and what they mean and what they might mean and this or that string of words is something to be savored slowly. Better, thought I, to walk through the lovely garden to better see and examine all the flowers individually than to run through so I could see the next garden because it too is lovely and perhaps the one after that is more lovely still. This is what I've been telling myself.
This morning I started wondering if it was actually true.
Did you know that if you tell yourself something over and over again eventually you can convince yourself that it's true and you will believe it even if it isn't? I read a study a couple of years back that found that every person in the world has memories of things that never happened owing to this type of thing. All of us. So I wondered about this in relation to my reading (thinking about it in relation to every memory I have will do nothing but drive me further down the road to crazy town) and decided to put it to the test.
I snatched a book off the top of a stack this morning and dove in with the intent to read it fast. Fast fast. Like old times fast with the pedal to the floor like the devil was on my tail.
Oy.
A couple of hours later I was done and realized I hadn't enjoyed it much. Not nearly as much as was warranted. I felt kind of bleh and my eyes hurt. It's late at night now and they STILL hurt. Bad idea all the way around. What the hell was I thinking? It seems so idiotic now. I can't ever read the book again for the first time and my eyes hurt all the live long day. Nitwit.
Anyway, I told you that to tell you this:
Walk, don't run.
Stop and look around sometimes.
Sit down and think on it for a good long while.
There's no need to race especially if you're the only one on the road.
Enjoy your journeys even when it means you're going to have fewer of them.
Good night.
6 comments:
Oh my god, Grandpa :( are you dying?
Speaking of enjoying the journeys, there's a new Dr. Tran out and about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPfKtwwUN5w
I've always read slow. I actually find with novels that if it's not particularly gripping, I will read without actually paying any attention to what I am reading - my mind will wander off elsewhere while my eyes still follow the page line by line.
So I will all of a sudden realise this, and then have to go back 3 paragraphs and start over from there.
I've never read fast and I never plan to. Too easy to miss things, and I can't stand that.
All that said, I don't read much anyway.
Yeah, I read fast all the time. I'm all like "SIMPSONS! SIX O'CLOCK!"
Grandpa is still kicking! Get off my lawn!
Holt shit! NEW DR. TRAN!!
I get the wandering mind when the book isn't good. I used to soldier on anyway but now I just stop and get something I know is good instead. Life's too short.
I love when a book grabs me and drags me along at break neck speed but when it's due to the story and the writing it's different than the speed for the sake of speed thing even if the speed is the same. Does that make sense?
And do I remember The Tomb? My dear Blue, I own this:
http://www.borderlandspress.com/adversary.html
Mmmm...F. Paul Wilson.
Amen, that's what I'm screamin', yo. (Okay I'll stop.) All I'm saying is that when I read, I savor each word like a delicious Werther's (I've been hanging out with Dad too much. Switch Werther's to beer.) When I read an old favorite, like 'Lolita', for example, I read it so slowly you'd think I was dyslexic. I must read each line at least three times.
Go slow, smell the roses! What do any of us have to prove, anyway? (Don't answer that.)
HAHA damo...i read the post and felt so...insightful and had some serious thoughts to share. Then Damian has to go and make coffee come out of my nose.
But honestly, I agree completely with what you're saying, and with what everyone else said. There are times, when I'm just not into something and my mind will wander - happens when I'm reading a 1200 page stephen king novel, which is why I now stick with only his short stories. But then there are books, like Haunted, that I missed subway stops over because I couldn't stop reading - and reading fast to see what happened next. And there are books, like Glamorama- Brett Easton Ellis that tooke me 3 months to read because I had to read every line twice, if not three times. And there are certain things I apply this theory to in my life, such as drinks with friends, cultural events, blah blah...where I take my time even though I may not have the time because it's worth it to walk away with a more meaningful, richer experience. I will not be a slave to the clock, ya heard? :-)
Post a Comment