This post has two purposes:

1. To link to a great post by Laura Vivanco at Teach Me Tonight, Evaluating Books, in which she discusses the complex relationships between how much we paid for a book, how much we value it, both economically and aesthetically, and how we read (sitting up? slumped in a comfy chair?). Go forth and read.

2. To write something quick to get over the inertia that sets in when I don’t post for several days. A more substantive post to come, hopefully soon.

When You Read

Ok, people. When do you read? Reading is such a luxury to me. Sure, I read every day, as part of my job. But reading for pleasure is not something I get to do every day. I tend to do most of my reading in two places (1) the gym (on the elliptical or bike), and (2) at night before bed. When I am reading for work, I can’t take any sound distractions. But if I needed silence to read for pleasure, I would absolutely never read, because there are 3 other humans and 4 pets in my house, and they are all making some kind of noise, be it talking, TV watching, music playing, or wrestling.

I also “read” by listening to audio when I drive or walk the dogs. If a book is really good, I may actually have one earbud in while I walk around campus or grocery shop, but I try not to do that. Maybe it’s my age, but it seems kind of rude.

I can’t read in snatches. I can’t read standing in line or shopping. I need to have at least 15 minutes before I can open a book. I know a book is incredibly gripping if I take it along with me and try to get in a page here and there during the day.

Do you read in snatches? During the day? Lunch hour? In the morning?

Where You Read

Most of my reading is done at home or the gym. That thing about being rude I mentioned earlier … does not apply at the gym. I belong to three gyms (don’t ask), actually, and at two of them I want to never be approached, so I always appear to be intently reading or listening to something, even as I walk from the locker room to the equipment. I find that reading at the gym makes my cardio fly by. I prefer the Kindle 1 to the Kindle 2 for this, because the former’s buttons are easier to push when the e-reader is laying flat on the machine.

At home, I am either in the living room or in bed. Reading in bed induces sleep, but it is absolutely delicious, so there’s a tradeoff. In the evenings, I read with a drink, either water, herbal tea, wine, or something sweet, like anisette. I absolutely never eat when I read. Too distracting (I am easily distracted).

I don’t read outside, mostly because where I live it is unpleasant for most of the year. But we do have a back deck, and on the odd day (3 per year) when it is warm and sunny and the black flies aren’t out, I like to sit there and read while watching the pups try to dig out from under the fence and eat the neighbors.

Where do you read? Do you find the where and when are connected?

How You Read

Sitting up, Kindle in right hand, left hand between my legs. Joking! Isn’t that what people think about romance readers, though?

If I am in bed reading, I usually have my sons in there with me reading, or, later, the spouse. If I am downstairs, I am usually on a couch with spouse, kids or pets. Occasionally I get irritated enough by being constantly jostled that I walk into another room and sit in a chair, although even then a cat manages to follow and try to get on my lap. No lap cats when I read! This makes me wonder if reading is a way to have some “alone time” even when I am surrounded by family.

The worst thing about reading on the Kindle is the inability to back up as easily as you would flip pages. It forces me to read in a linear way, and I read faster as a result.

I find that now that I write book reviews for this blog, I don’t get as lost in a book as easily. I’m always thinking “is this a point I could make in a review?” or “this would be a good quote for a review.” I don’t even review half the books I read, yet I still find it hard to turn this voice off.

How do you read? What do you even take that question to be asking? Lap pets, yeah or nay?

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Go read Laura’s post, if you haven’t. More substantive posts to follow!