Tag Archives: reading

Time to read

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I switched mostly to audio books a few years ago and that multiplied the number of books I consumed significantly. As a slow reader with an internal voice that speaks louder than my internal reading voice, I’ve always found reading both slow and difficult. I can, without exaggeration, read and be so internally distracted that when I catch myself and look back I can’t remember anything on the last 3-4 pages.

Audio books are louder or at least more attention-holding than my internal dialogue and I can set the speed to faster than I’m able to read. Audio books to me are like a reading superpower compared to a paper book.

Except, I’ve struggled of late to get started on a book. I bounce around listening to podcasts, and don’t seem to want to start a new book, be it a novel or educational. I also have 2 paper books without an audio version that I’m wanting to start. So, I feel that I need to dedicate time to a paper book. It’s going to be tough because I get a lot of ‘reading’ done in the car, on the treadmill, and generally on the go.

Now I’ve got to juggle in some book reading. The only time I can see doing this is just before bed. I’m struggling with this decision. Do I really want to start yet another routined habit? Yes. No. Yes.

I’ll give it a try. I want more reading time. I’m just not convinced I’ll commit. I’ll know in about 2 weeks.

Listen up

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I started an audio book today. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without listening to a book in years. March break was the last time I listened to a book. This is unusual for me because I only listen to audio books, I don’t actually read books anymore.

I’ve been an Audible subscriber since 2017 and have 199 books in my library. Less than 20 are not started or fully completed. It occurred to me that I actually haven’t read a paper book since 2018. I’ve read some pages of a few books, but I haven’t completed reading a paper book in over 7 years.

I still end up doing a lot of reading on a screen, but it’s surprising to realize that I haven’t read a physical book in so long. To me audio books are reading. But I’m sure some purple don’t think so.

My dry spell recently involved catching up on some podcasts I like, but books are different. There is something special about ‘digging in’ to a good book. It just so happens that for me, I dig in by listening rather than visually.

The great thing about this is that I know that I’ve never in my life read 10 books in a year, but I’m averaging listening to 20+ a year. At this point I’m not sure if I’ll ever read a full paper book ever again? That seems so weird to say, and at some point I might change… but for now listening is my preferred, and only choice for consuming books.

Nerdy Dialogue

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It’s March break, and for me the start of any break means it’s time to enjoy a good fiction book. Scanning my options last week, I saw that a science fiction series I really enjoyed had the next book out. So I added it to Audible and started listening on Friday. I’m not going to mention the series beyond saying it’s a science fiction, because I do enjoy it, but my critique below is far from flattering.

The author is a total nerd. How do I know this? Every reference to earth is related to things only a nerd would think worth referencing, and the dialogue is extra nerdy. Meanwhile the science of the scifence fiction seems to follow a level of theory that is intelligent and beyond my scope to critique… And while I’ve enjoyed the plot line of every book, including this one so far, the dialogue is very painful, and getting annoying.

The banter is always the same, no matter which characters are talking, and while the women are all intelligent, they all eye roll to the same style of corny jokes and all have similar responses to male dialogue. I bet if I met the author, I could typecast both him and his wife.

Robertson Davies was a novelist who seemed to be able to put himself into characters and ‘be’ someone completely different. I remember reading Fifth Business, and when the protagonist lost a leg I actually looked up the author to see if he had lost a leg too, because I couldn’t imagine that this experience wasn’t at least partially autobiographical.

On the other hand, I’ve read another series by this nerdy author and the humour and banter between characters does not diverge. Not one bit.

I know dialogue is hard. I’m not sure i would be emotionally intuitive enough to live the perspective of fictional characters well enough to create good dialogue beyond my own experience. Still, that doesn’t take away from my critique, and this author only has the ability to write dialogue from a single, very predictable perspective. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed his books, but I think this is going to be the last one that I’ll read, and it’s because of the very nerdy, and very predictable, banter and dialogue between characters.

Time to read

I haven’t been able to start a book in a couple months. I still listen to podcasts, but I usually also have a book on the go. Right now there isn’t a book that’s grabbing my interest. My last book was Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and I can’t tell you a single takeaway that I got from it.

Tipping Point was amazing. I read that shortly after it came out 25 years ago and I still remember things from it. Part of this is that the original was so much better than the sequel, but part of it is that I’m not listening to absorb right now. For the first time in 5 plus years I’m thinking of trying to read a paper book.

I love audio books. I find way more time to listen than to read, and while I used to read 3-5 books a year, I usually listen to 15-20+. But right now I can’t seem to stay focused on audio.

So maybe I put on my reading glasses and try paper again… but first I need a good book suggestion.

Audio attention

A few years ago I exclusively switched from reading books to listening to them. I was never a fast reader and always struggled with my attention when reading. I’d get lost in thought and read whole pages without absorbing any of the content. In fact, sometimes while reading I could turn back one page and not remember reading any part of it.

So for me, audio books were a blessing. I could just listen and absorb. However, I’m going through a phase now where I’m losing my attention while listening. My wondering mind becomes a wandering mind and I tune out the sound. When this happens, only one thing seems to get me out of it and that’s a good fiction book. By moving from learning content to enjoying an adventure, I start to tune back in.

So, I’ll put my current read on hold, I’ll skip my next planned read, and I’ll find myself a good fiction book to get lost in. Normally I save fiction for holiday time, but there’s no use listening to something informative now, if every few minutes I’m hitting the rewind button.

I need a good fiction audio book to remind me what it means to listen intently and pay attention.

Double dipping

Had 2 long drives today, the first one was 2.5 hours and the second one was 1.5 hours. Of the 4 hours, about 45 minutes was spent on the phone to my sister, and most of the rest of the time I was listening to a book. I love solo drives now that I mostly listen to books rather than reading them. The road becomes an endless stretch before me, and time drifts away as I listen… my only interruption being Siri’s voice occasionally giving me commands from Google Maps.

I love to double dip and both enjoy a drive and also enjoy listening to a book at the same time. The drive becomes a pleasure rather than a chore, and the kilometres disappear… time passing faster because of my involvement in my book.

Now I’m where I need to be, and the journey was both effortless and enjoyable.

Novel worlds

I enjoy reading novels when summer comes along. I seek out books that take me to different worlds and different realms. I seek magic and the majestic. I don’t really enjoy historical fiction. I want dystopian tribulations, lost kingdoms, and kingdoms lost. Give me magical orbs, forbidden powers, fragile Gods, and alien encounters.

Set me free in a novel world, where I can escape on the pages, written or read, paper or digital, visual or auditory. Places I can visit in my mind; places that could never exist save for an author’s imagination.

Summer is a time to escape to places only the mind can go… thanks to a good book.

Don’t watch the movie

It’s holiday day time and that means it’s time to pick up a novel. Well, metaphorically pick it up because I’m actually going to listen to an audio book. Every extended school break I usually choose a good fiction and enjoy having an author take me on an adventure.

A few summers ago I got deep into the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney, and now I’m on book 13, ‘The Chaos Agent’. I love escaping into a world of spies, espionage, and more action in a week than any one person would ever experience in a lifetime. The books are fun, fascinating, and exciting… but the movie is absolutely awful!

The movie combined characters and made a cookie cutter Hollywood movie, which undermined the essence of the book, and more importantly the character. Here is a movie spoiler that proves my point: The Hollywood version of the final fight starts with the Gray Man facing his rival. The Grey Man works alone the entire book, but the movie has his female team member with a gun pointed at the bad guy and the Gray Man doesn’t say ‘take the shot’, no instead he chooses to fist fight the guy.

This would never happen in the books, it would never be a choice made by this deadly assassin. It doesn’t fit, other than to have a Hollywood version final battle. Then to make the scenario worse, the army trained rival only remembers he has a knife after he starts losing the fight to the Gray Man. None of that is a spoiler for any of the books.

It’s really too bad the movie had to veer so far away from the book. It took a great story and made into a Hollywood cliche, where any of 100 action hero’s could have replaced the Gray Man and the script would have looked the same.

If you are into spy novels, enjoy reading or listening to tthis series, and stay clear of the movie. And I don’t just mean enjoy the book first, then watch the movie… This is a case where telling you to avoid the movie is keeping you from guaranteed disappointment. It’s that bad!

The sci-fi try

I don’t usually listen to fictional books during the school year. I usually wait for the breaks, in summer, winter, and March, to pick up a ‘fun’ book. But I started a sci-fi that is about the moon breaking up from a mysterious and sudden catastrophic event. The earth then has roughly 2 years to get as large a community into space before being destroyed by moon debris crashing into earth at a rate that makes earth a fiery hell.

The technical aspects of the book are great. It’s easy to nerd out on the science and to imagine the challenges the survivors must face. The only issue I’m having with the book is that it doesn’t share the loss of life in a compassionate way. The story lacks heart.

It tries, but fails to put loss of life in a way that lets the reader feel grief over the loss. The author is more interested in the science than the humanity. He makes attempts but they aren’t great. Yet the book is still good. I’m only 1/3 of the way through and it will be the Christmas break before I get through it. I’ll let the shortcomings go and enjoy nerding out on the science and the idea of the future of humanity and civilization resting on an ad hoc space colony.

Not all stories need to be perfect to be enjoyable. Sometimes you have to make choices. This book lets me geek out without getting too heavy into the devastation of the entire earth… and I’m just one generation in. From what I understand the story spans a few thousand years. I won’t be putting the story down just because it feels a little clinical in how it deals with death. Because ultimately (so far) it’s a story about survival in desperate times, and under dire circumstances, and I’m hooked on finding out what this dystopian future holds.

I chose a science fiction, not a romance novel, and I’m getting a good dose of both science and fiction. For those interested, the book is Neil Stephenson’s Seveneves.

Battling the inner demons

I’m listening to a book now that has two main characters who are both cautiously interested in each other and doubting that the other person is interested in them. It’s a little painful because they should have recognized the other’s attraction by now. So, while as a reader I’m waiting for the inevitable, I do appreciate the author’s perspective on both characters self-doubt… and how they are fighting their inner demons about their own appeal, their own value of what they can offer to the other person.

I wonder how many relationships flounder not because of lack of interest, but rather lack of confidence? How many people don’t initiate intimacy for fear of rejection? It happens in books all the time. Is that indicative of what really happens, or is it more likely that the attraction is one-way? Is it more if an external imbalance of interest in one another or more internal conflict holding back advances?

How often do people succumb to their inner demons and not move forward? Not just in relationships, in their studies, in their jobs, in sports, and even in hobbies?

“I’m not good enough for that team, why even try out?” (Or worse yet, “Why practice more, it won’t make a difference.”

“They won’t want to hire me.”

“They don’t see my value, I’ll get rejected if I ask for a raise.”

“My photos aren’t good enough to submit in the contest.”

How often do our inner demons prevent us from trying?