One of the main ideas behind the Read With Us Lounge has been that reading should bring us more freedom, not more rules.
Many of us carry around an invisible list of "shoulds" when it comes to reading. We should finish every book we start. We should read the classics. We should read books in order. We should read the book before watching the movie. We should always start at page one and never, ever peek at the ending. You don't write in your books and you never dog-ear pages. Audiobooks don't count as "real" reading.
But where did all those rules come from? And more importantly ... do they actually make us happier readers?
I've known people who read the last chapter first. At first, that sounded completely wrong to me. Wouldn't it spoil the whole book? Then I heard someone explain that knowing the ending allows them to relax and enjoy the journey. Instead of wondering what will happen, they pay attention to how the author gets there. They notice the breadcrumbs, the small moments, the clever turns of phrase that might otherwise be overlooked. I don't personally read that way, but I understand the appeal now.
I'm not about to make more reading rules, but I hereby declare that yes, audiobooks are real reading (for me, anyway.) I think that many audiobooks bring me one step closer to a story, removing the middleman of paper or a screen.
Whether you're turning pages or listening while driving, walking, knitting, folding laundry, or pulling weeds in the garden, you're still experiencing the author's story. You're meeting the characters, following the plot, laughing, wondering, learning, and sometimes crying. The words are reaching you through your ears instead of your eyes, but they are still the author's words. In fact, stories were spoken long before they were printed. Listening isn't a lesser form of reading; it connects us to one of humanity's oldest traditions.Once you start questioning one reading rule, it's amazing how many others begin to fall away.
Maybe you like to read several books at once because your mood changes from day to day. Maybe you reread favorite books every few years because they become different books as you become a different reader. Maybe you skip long descriptions, read mysteries only after someone has spoiled the ending, abandon books that aren't working, or spend an entire summer reading nothing but memoirs. None of those habits make you a "bad" reader. They simply make you your kind of reader.
That's one of the reasons we wanted this group to exist. Not to tell us what we should be reading or how we should be reading it, but to remind us that there are countless ways to build a reading life. The goal isn't to read the "right" books or the "right" way. I think it's to keep reading in ways that make us curious, joyful, comforted, challenged, or simply happy to pick up the next book.
So this week, I'm curious...
What's one reading "rule" you've broken? How did it affect your reading life?
Please share your reading quirks. I have a feeling many of us may discover we're not nearly as unusual as we thought.
Be sure and visit Kym and Carole to see what they're talking about today.
No rules for me! LOL. I was, years ago, a person who "had to" finish each book that I started. No longer though. And audio books - I am listening a little bit more, but have discovered that I don't retain as much from an audio book as I do from a printed one. Don't know why, but that's the case for me.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when I really did not enjoy rereading books (maybe it was my kids who broke that in me with the high demand for Hop on Pop... oof. lol) But really, I did not appreciate what rereading can do for a reader. Now, is every book worthy of being reread? Maybe not but the ones that fall into the "must read again" are the best bits of reading for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the people who think reading via audiobooks doesn't count. Are they saying that kids who get books read to them before they know how to read aren't reading? What about people who are blind or visually impaired? I just don't understand what people who make silly rules get out of it. Like Vera, I am working at getting better at DNFing; I don't do it often, because I always hope that things will improve or come together in the end, but I also don't waste my time on something that immediately turns me off. And like Kat, I've really come to appreciate rereading, something I didn't do much before because I felt that it was taking time away from reading new books. Ultimately my approach has become spending my reading time in a way that brings me joy, growth, learning, and fulfillment. Anything that doesn't bring me those things does not need to be read.
ReplyDeleteIn my past life, I was generally a rule follower. Not only have I given up any rules for reading, but I have given up most of the rules about everything except the things that benefit my health. Heresy! This has been one of the truly freeing things about growing older and having a clearer view of what matters. I think all reading counts. Audiobooks use a different part of the brain than reading, but that doesn't make them less valuable. I read a lot of scientific literature, and I think it counts. And whatever is valuable to you counts in all the ways that matter.
ReplyDeleteI had to pop over today after I read your comment on Kym’s post. I am an avid audiobook and kindle reader and I get a fair amount of eye rolls for that but it works for me. Why are there joy-squahers out there (reading, knitting, quilting - always someone to police us)? I am working on letting those comments slide away. Thanks for these great summer posts.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved reading and the only rule I had to work to overcome was the need to finish a book I didn't like. I think it dates back to when I was in school and read the books on the NYS Regents recommended reading lists every year-these were in addition to the books we had to read in class and some of them I absolutely hated! Now if I don't like a book, I move on to something else.
ReplyDeleteI went to school in PA and luckily we didn't have anything like the NYS Regents. But now you're past that and nobody can tell you what you need to read (or finish)!
DeleteI'm definitely learning to DNF or let go of an author or series that just isn't working for me anymore.
ReplyDeleteI still finish every book I start but I am much pickier about what I pick to read.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good way to do it!
DeleteIn the last few years, I decided that if a plot makes me anxious or seems terrible depressing to me, it would be ok to read the last chapter to see if the ending is going to be worth the angst. I don't need every ending to be perfectly happy or tied up with a bow but if I'm going to be anxious I need the ending to be somewhat satisfactory or leave me with a little hope.
ReplyDeleteI've been known to let an audiobook I didn't care for keep running while I leave the room just to finish it. I don't know why I feel guilty about just abandoning them. I've also turned them on at night to fall asleep without setting the timer for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteI'm also guilty of listening at night without the timer, but when I wake up I can better judge if I'm curious and want to go back and listen to what I missed. Sometimes the best way to listen to some books is when you're asleep.
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