Books and I broke up early in college. We had always had a great relationship; spending plenty of time together and making sure to give the other what they wanted. Books wanted to be appreciated and understood; I wanted to expand my imagination and learn. Everything was going so well.
Then school came along. At first, it wasn’t so bad. After all, high school was laughably easy and though there was required reading, I typically elected to not read it and go ahead and get an ‘A’ anyways. NBD. Textbooks are a different beast though and ignoring those entirely was not a recommended approach. So I found myself reading out of textbooks, glancing at my leisure reading from time to time, just to let it know that I still cared and that the textbook was strictly business.
It happened slowly, but by the time I made it to college, the sentiment was palpable. I was beginning to dislike books. I still took some time out to sit down and revel in a good read, but those times were becoming more and more tenuous. College, unlike high school was most certainly not easy. In all honesty, it was tougher than shit and I found myself forcibly plucked from the upper echelons of academic accomplishment and shamefully tossed into the veritable gutter of scholastic failure. (A bit of context for you: I transitioned from a small, private Christian high school that emphasized religion and moral value over college preparation and rigorous curriculum; to the University of California San Diego, conceivably one of the most strictly-academic focused schools on the west coast, if not America.) As I slowly adjusted to life in college, I quickly discovered that reading the books assigned to me, whether textbooks or not, was no longer an option.
And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I became resentful towards reading. I was now being forced to read and therefore, it was no longer enjoyable. When I had free time, I didn’t even want to be around a book. It was an unfortunate digression, but there was nothing I felt like I could do about it. ‘Leisure reading’ no longer existed in my lexicon and that saddened me.
It has more or less stayed that way for years now. A couple of times, I’ve managed to pick up a book, but it’s always a very forced effort to get through them. I can’t even count how many books I used to read; but in the last couple of years, I think I’ve finished two good novels. To their credit, I really, really enjoyed both books (The Da Vinci Code and Diary).
Recently, I’ve felt an urge to get back into reading. I have learned so much from literature, and that’s to say nothing of the incredible and creative expeditions my mind has taken while reading. This urge has grown stronger and stronger each day. Obviously not strong enough for me to just pick up something and read, but certainly strong enough to persist on the periphery of my ambitions. I really enjoy the horror/sci-fi/mystery genre(s) and really want to start reading my way through some authors I think have helped to champion these genres: Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft, Chuck Palahniuk, Steven King, Anne Rice; as a few examples. There are plenty of other authors I want to read as well and considerably more books by any given author. Once I started to think about this, I realized that buying all the books I want to read would be rather expensive.
Naturally, my mind starting concocting ways I could start reading the wealth of material I was interested in. Libraries are one way, but the selection is typically rather limited plus I would have to, you know, go in them. Still not a terrible option. The next is to just pony up and accept that buying them is what it’s gonna be. Not cheap, but I’ll own them and can revisit them whenever I please; which is not uncommon for me to do when I enjoy a book. The last option is an e-Reader. These devices are all the rage now and I honestly never even considered one until very recently. The idea behind an e-Reader is great: take a tablet-sized device, focus it on reading, digitize the content and give the user thousands of options. Nice. Two problems for me though. The first is that it’s a bit pricey. The cheaper ones still cost about 200 bones and the one I like in particular, The Nook, is closer to $300. The second issue is that I actually like the tactile experience involved in reading. Physically turning the pages and holding the actual book is enjoyable to me, odd as that may sound. Admittedly, the second issue is not nearly as important as the former one, and the advantage of having a plethora of varying literature at my disposal is noteworthy.
So that’s my dilemma with this new aspiration. Either way, I want to figure it out relatively soon and I have a feeling the e-Reader solution is gonna win out on this one. If that’s true, then the purchase wouldn’t be made until next year, when money is a little more stable and the post-holidays recovery has set in. What do you guys think?
During these busy times, I found that I love audio books! They are easily accessible and captivate my mind while driving, especially a long drive! They are a bit more expensive than the written books. I’ve read several books already! Feel free to borrow from me. Love
Hmmm, I hadn’t even considered that option. I don’t know why, but audio books seem so strange to me. For me, it would be like listening to a movie but not seeing it. There’s a sort of sensory deprivation going on when listening to an audio book instead of actually reading it. I think part of it is that I actually enjoy the act of reading, not just the tale itself.
I’m willing to give it a try though, so maybe I’ll borrow one of yours and see how it goes.