Bookman laughed at me last night as we were winding down and getting ready for sleep. “I’m ready for the weekend now!” I declared. But alas, no weekend for me. All my time was spent working on a paper for school, a paper that had been assigned only the week before, and was to consist of a thoughtful 8-14 page reflection on a dense 36 page chapter on image indexing as well as image database searching and a meaningful examination of two particular thesauri all of which were also given to us within the same week as the paper was assigned. To say the paper did not flow easily is putting it mildly. But it got done. And now I am at the beginning of week five of a ten-week quarter and new readings have been provided and a new assignment. It is entirely possible I won’t be seeing a real weekend until early September. Sigh.
I finished reading You are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier Friday on my public transit commute homeward. There will be a proper write up of that probably on Wednesday. I’d say tomorrow but my blogging time tomorrow evening is going to be taken up by a phone interview with someone from a big university conducting research about book reviewing. Why someone would want to include me in that research leaves me baffled, but there you go. I have no idea what to expect, but I will report back. So that means Lanier’s book will probably be put off until Thursday. It’s just as well though, the delay will give me a chance to try to put together some coherent thoughts on it.
Ivy Compton-Burnett’s Manservant and Maidservant has also been accompanying me on my daily commute. It is the next Slaves book up for discussion July 31st. It reads fast because it is nearly all conversation. I have to keep forcing myself to slow down and read more carefully. All are welcome to participate in the discussion and there is still time to read the book.
My reading resolutions this year included trying to become a better reader. I didn’t know what it meant at the time and I still don’t know but I have been thinking about it off and on. Then today I came upon an a short blog blurb at Utne: How to Be a Better Reader. The blurb is so short it does not say anything very useful. I read the Believer interview linked in the article and while it is interesting it isn’t really about being a better reader. I had hoped my library had the Iowa Review because perhaps that article would be different than the Believer’s, but it doesn’t and neither does Drexel so I am out of luck unless I go through the bother of ILL. If someone out there has read the article, let me know if it is any good.
And in a case of book lusting, I found out recently that Cythia Ozick has a book called Foreign Bodies coming out in November. The book is a retelling of Henry James’ The Ambassadors. I have not read the James book but I want to. That doesn’t keep me from being curious about what Ozick has done with it. Are there any recent or forthcoming books you are particularly lusting after? My TBR lists and piles aren’t quite heaping enough.
You sound really busy! Our semesters in Australia are really different from yours, I just started the new semester yesterday. I read the ‘how to be a better reader’ link and I have been thinking about what kind of reader I am, and have to confess that I am not a good reader. Some books I read in a day or two, some books I read over a few months and I read more than one book at a time. It would, however, be great to have the luxury of time to read War and Peace in a few days though!
I think one way to be a better reader is to read slowly: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/15/slow-reading
That means reading less, especially when other things demand attention, as well as reading more selectively. It also means making marks and notes in the margin, re-reading certain passages, and stopping to think about them. It might also mean you have less time to write. But write you must too.
Yours for slow reading,
http://www.marksinthemargin.com
Fiona, what! None of that has anything to do with being a good or bad reader! As a piece of advice, that “100 pages at a sitting” idea is uniquely terrible. It comes from a Professional Reader who has to plow through hundreds of pages of second-rate (or worse) contemporary writing for his show. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
Some books should be read in a day, and some over many months, some slowly and some quickly, some in nibbles and some in big chunks. Some books can be read productively in many different ways.
Stefanie, I don’t know how you managed to write 8-14 thoughtful pages on indexing and emerge from the experience sane. Good on you for surviving! I’m behind with everything, but I’ve finally finished writing my book and hope to be back online properly soon. To think your tbr pile need replenishing! Now there’s a challenge……
Fiona, I don’t think you are a bad reader at all. Some books are meant to be read in a day or two and some take a long time. And if reading more than one book at a time makes a person a bad reader then I am doomed!
Richard, thanks for the link! I have read that article before. It’s a good one. Did you know there is even a Wikipedia entry for slow reading? While I think slow reading is good it doesn’t necessarily equal reading well though it definitely helps facilitate it.
Amateur Reader, you are right, the guy is a professional reader and even though he may enjoy his job he definitely has to do some plowing through works. 100 pages in a sitting is ridiculus especially since it comes with the implication that reading 20 pages in a sitting isn’t good enough. That’s why I was wondering it the Iowa Review article was better than the interview, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that it would be the same in many ways.
Litlove, who says I’m sane?
Congratulations on finishing the writing of your book! That is marvelous news! I hope you will share more about it soon!
What a schedule- you’re a multitasked Stefanie!
I don’t know whether if I’m a good reader or a bad one but I know that I am a slow reader. It usually takes me three to four weeks to finish a book (depending on the length) and I read 4-5 books simultaneously… I tried to do a ‘one book in one week’ thing but it didn’t really work for me
Considering how long it takes me to write a four paragraph post on some nonsensical topic, I admire you the ability to write a paper like that! And September isn’t all that far off either. I’m glad to hear the Compton Burnett reads fast. For some reason I am having a hard time getting into it–she sort of just drops you in on a scene and I am trying to figure out who is who and what they’re talking about. As for new books–I was just contemplating that over the weekend and even just posted on it.
Lua, I’d much rather not be a multitasker! Yay for reading more than one book at a time. I do the same and trying to have only one book on the go at a time doesn’t work for me either.
Danielle, you’re so nice!
I felt thrown into the middle of a scen too when I began the Compton-Burnett and am finding the whole book is like that but it gets easier to figure out what is going on.
How did the interview go? How exciting. You’ll have to tell us about that.
I haven’t started the Slaves book yet and I get the feeling I’m going to be rushing around (as usual!) on the weekend to get that read by next week. Sigh. Hopefully it’s a good read.
Stefanie, I could send you a pdf of the Silverblatt interview, if you like, since we have it here, but I don’t think it’s going to do much more than provide you with a few more of Silverblatt’s own reading idiosyncracies. Granted, I’ve just skimmed it. . .
I’ve very eager to read the new Ozick, which means I need to read the James first so that I can fully appreciate it.
And, like Danielle, I’m having a bit of trouble getting into the Compton-Burnett. Hope to rectify that soon!
Iliana, the interview was interesting. I have ot yet decided whether I like the Slaves book. It is not anything like I expected.
Susan, oh susan, thank you that is a very nice offer! I trust though that if you have skimmed it and found it not that great then I would feel the same. So I think I will stop wondering about it. But thanks!
I am hoping that I will be able to eke out the time to read The Ambassadors this fall. After reading The Master I want to read more James and I am intensely curious about the Ozick book.