How Do Readers Read?

 

How Do Readers Read?

 

How does your current book travel around with you?  What exact part of your backpack, pocket, purse, or whatever is involved? 

I wish that I could say that my book traveled in a special place that would protect it or keep it in tact.  No such luck for me!  My current book travels with me via the passenger seat of my car.  During the daytime hours, a majority of my time is spent driving to meetings and appointments.  The evening hours are spent trying to either prepare a meal, attend afterschool functions, or assist my daughters with their homework assignments.  On other occasions, I’m tied up in other organizational meetings for the church and community.  There are hardly any downtime hours in my day so having it in the car allows me to have access whenever time permits.   

The alternative to my car is the nightstand next to my bed.  One might think that this would be the ideal place to wind down after an active day, but for me it’s the ideal place to collect dust.  When it’s usually time to go to bed there are only a few fleeting moments of clarity before my body voluntarily yields to sleep.  As far the mornings go…getting everybody off to school and trying to have mind setting devotion while getting ready for work just doesn’t leave enough time to think!

 

What are the regular sections of your day?  What little reading appointments might be possible there?

My commute to and from work as well as an hour-long lunch are the regular sections of my day.  Needless to say, reading and driving don’t mix. Unfortunately, I’m ashamed to say that I have tried this.  Let’s just say that lane bumps are wonderful attention getters.  During my lunch break is a time that I have already scheduled as designated reading time.  These appointments are not always kept because sometimes my lunch hour is taken over by errands.

 

What are some possible places for reading?  How might different places go with different types of reading?  Like what could you read on the bus, in bed, at the kitchen table, in school?  What are the challenges about each of those places, and how do you deal with those challenges?

Some possible places that I could read are the restroom, the kitchen table, in the computer room, my car, or in my bedroom.  The kitchen table works because there is a nook there that has windows where sunlight can shine in.  It wouldn’t work when the kids were home.  I have two teenage girls that seem to have bottomless pits for stomachs.  Seeing me at the table would, in their minds, gives them permission to let me know they were hungry and permit them to ask me to prepare something.  The computer room is also a little to assessable for my kids.  The restroom is a good place, but my time in there is limited.  There’s only so long that I can stay on the toilet before my legs go numb and fall asleep.  Inside my car and in the oversized chair that sits by the window in my bedroom are the best places for me.  Both places are quiet, can be utilized without disturbance, and offer opportunities for my mind to rest and reset.

 

Who knows what you’re reading right now?  Who do you sometimes think about telling about your book?  Who gives you recommendations?  Whose reading do you wonder about?

All of my kids know what I am reading right now. My son bought me a book for Christmas titled, Force and Power of Being by Ava Muhammad.  My son has always been an avid reader and he’s always suggesting books that I should read.  He has chosen to start studying the Quran.  I love the fact that he feels a sense of empowerment by learning about a religion that encourages self-value, but I feel torn between my Christian upbringing and the values taught in the Muslim religion.  This book was written by a woman in the Muslim faith.  So far, it has proven to be very interesting.  I haven’t really told anyone about the book because I didn’t want to feel judged for reading it.  Normally I’m not one that takes other people’s opinions into consideration, but until I can totally understand the teachings that are being specified in this book, I choose to keep it to myself.  Reading is something that allows for you to experience things that you would never have otherwise partook.  For this reason, I personally would never restrict someone’s choice of literature.

 

What could you read if you wanted a real challenge, something you could understand, but that would make you work?

Something that is challenging for me to read is the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.  I have chosen to read the New International Version (NIV) interpretation.  The NIV version of the Bible using modern English to make reading easier to understand and faster to receive.  The King James Version is not an ordinary read.  The KJV bible was published in the 1600s and was deemed the “Authorized Version” by King James.  It uses Elizabethan language that is not used to communicate in the present.  Reading this version of the Bible would require me to research terminology and study the interpretation of the words being used to communicate during that particular period of time the book was published.