Learning to Read Again
Believe it or not, earning an English degree doesn’t require as much reading as you might imagine. Sure, you’re reading a fair amount, but it isn’t quite the same as sitting down to read a novel. Because of class length, and needing to get through as much material as possible in say a 200-level American Literature course, you mostly have to read short stories along with the occasional selection from a novel. More often than not a professor will lecture and talk about a writer and their book(s) and then you don’t get to read it. It’s literary cock-blocking.
My degree concentration was writing. So it also consisted of reading short fiction or nonfiction depending on the class. And a whole lot of reading and criticizing peer work. Getting a degree in English teaches you about criticism. And it’s valuable, don’t get me wrong. It allowed me to develop the skills I need in my profession. Most of the writing process (other than crying, eating a lot of cake, and lamenting about a distinct lack of talent/self-worth) is editing. Editing allows you to see what parts of a piece are extraneous and unimportant. And more crucially, lets you see what is important.
But I missed reading, desperately. As a kid, I devoured books: left nothing alive, read until there was nothing left but bones and punctuation. It feels obvious, but reading is what made me want to be a writer, a desire that’s never wavered.
In April I finally decided to do something about it. I bought a Kindle. Here’s the thing. The feel of actual books is special. They provide a pure tactile experience. Reading physical books is this intimate, extremely personal experience. You surround yourself in words, in other worlds. I truly believe that the connection between the kinetic movement of turning pages, of running your finger along with a sentence, forces you to be more engaged in the text. It forces you into a better understanding.
But books aren’t always practical in a modern sense. Storing books is a pain. Traveling and moving with them is a bigger pain. With the advent of tablets, I tried to shift the majority of my reading to digital. But reading on tablets flat out sucks. First there’s the distraction. Tablets want to do everything. Social media, video, web browsing. Tablets also don’t want you to read for extended periods either. They want the screen to dim, turn off, go to sleep. And reading for a longer period with LCD or LED blue light strains and tires eyes. Plus, even the highest resolution displays aren’t made to render text. Certain pixel arrangements exacerbate that problem. These days my aging Android tablet has been relegated to comics duty. I stripped away all the excess apps and leave it in airplane mode.
The Kindle, and other e-readers, only do one thing. And they do it well. As a pretty tech-savvy consumer that cares about the latest and greatest to the detriment of my checking account (I have two 4k screens in one room) e-ink displays are a revelation. I know I’m late to the party here, and that’s okay. I’m more than ready to join the world of 2007. I can’t warn you about any impending financial collapses, I’m sorry. E-ink is amazing. Text renders like it does on a printed page, and there is such a difference between your phone’s LED color screen and a Kindle’s 300 dpi grayscale display.
E-readers also just leave you alone. No intrusive notifications, no system alerts, literal months of battery life. There’s no forced downtime. Seriously I’ve charged the thing maybe five times since I’ve gotten it. Amazon’s lockscreen and homescreen banner ads are a little annoying, but they never, ever interrupt the reading experience. I wouldn’t stand for it. And a little time in airplane mode can clear out most of the ads anyway. Amazon also graciously holds a touch of your freedom hostage: you can pay about $20 to get rid of their “special offers.”
So I’ve got the ideal reading device. I’ve got the books. Amazon makes it easy to find and purchase Kindle books, but they try to restrict you to their ecosystem. They’d prefer it if you only got books from the Kindle store. Pro-tip: you don’t have to. It’s relatively easy to move ebooks purchased (legally, please, writers need to eat) from other retailers to a Kindle or other format-specific device with user-friendly software like Calibre. And don’t forget your library. Chances are your old card still works, and most libraries have digital collections that can send ebooks right to your Kindle, or let you download the files and put them on any reading device or app.
But I still needed to learn to set time to read again. The first days with the Kindle were the easiest, as I wanted to use my new device as much as possible. But after that, with the busy-ness of everyday life, the pull of an over-saturated media landscape, and regular-old malaise, I needed to actually plan the time to read. The simplest way for me to do that was to set a goal. So I challenged myself, a reasonable challenge I’d say, to read one chapter each day. And most of the time I manage to shatter that goal, reading for an hour or two at least most nights.
Here’s where I get pretentious, bear with me, I’m sorry. Reading more has made me feel better and has made me feel better about myself. For one, my eyes aren’t completely worn out at the end of each day. Limiting the constant barrage of blue light does wonders. Another pro-tip: turn on night mode/night light on your LCD/LED devices. Most can configure automatically to switch on and off at sunset and sunrise with a couple of taps. You’ll get over the sepia-like color in a couple days. Your eyes will thank you. I’ve even been sleeping better, and as someone who has struggled with sleep my entire life that’s a big deal. Blue light in the evenings is bad news.
I feel more productive when I read. There’s no guilt after realizing you read for too long and should probably go to bed the way you might feel after watching three seasons of Bojack Horseman without moving from bed. No judgement, I’m talking from experience. It’s a really good show. Reading has also made me recognize that I’ve been playing too many video games for several years now. Not that I think games are evil and rot your brain or anything like that, but I’ve been ignoring other parts of my brain by trying to relieve stress and anxiety with games. My vocabulary had definitely stagnated in recent years too. Hey, maybe this is all placebo, but it seems to be working.
If you’re like me, and any of this has resonated with you, try to read again. You don’t need a Kindle, I bet you have a shelf or two with unread books you bought or were given or forgot to return to a friend or the library. Make the small effort, here’s a push if you need one. It’s easier to start a new habit than you might think.
