21st Century Literature discussion
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What Would Be Your Ideal Reading Life/Day? (7/14/19)
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Marc
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Jul 14, 2019 03:23PM
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Hah! It's funny how proposing it without limits makes the option a bit more daunting to come up with. Nonetheless, I have some ideas for my ideal reading life...1. 36 hours in the day (you said no obstacles 😉) for each weekend day, to allow for longer reading on Saturdays and Sundays, on top of doing other fun life stuff.
2.*The ability to read for more than two hours straight without looking at my phone.
3. ALL my books would be in hardcover format, PLUS, I'd have a kindle version of each book as back up.
4. Amazon or a reputable bookstore would automatically express ship me EVERY book I add to my primary want to read list.
5. I'd have a leather bound, 14x11, non-page fading copy of the complete works of Shakespeare and all the classics authors whose works I like the most.
6. I'd automatically get a copy of each year's Pulitzer fiction and non-fiction winners and finalists, in addition to a copy of each previous year's fiction winner I haven't read.
7. Spotify without ads to play what I call my "reading music" in the background when I'm reading.
8. A 300+ year old winery in France, Germany, and Italy, each sending me a bottle of my favorite wine to accompany each new book I start reading. Ditto for the world's best tequila to be shipped to me for the same purpose. I'd create an accompanying snack/dish to complement each read. ( I do a poor man's version of this now)
9. I'd design and stock my own home library for all the above books.
10. The ability to have a tequila, wine, and wit soaked dinner with the three authors who wrote my top three favorite novels of the corresponding year.
* In my own defense, while I'm reading, looking at my phone isn't always for frivolous reasons. Most of the time, I do it to look up unfamiliar words and or references the author has used in their storytelling. Sometimes, it's as simple as wanting to see what an item looks like (artwork, cars, buildings, clothing, etc.) or to look up the biography of a historical figure mentioned.
Basically an ideal reading day would consist of me just reading on a comfy chair, with lunch and walk breaks.
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I’m with CINDLE and Whitney with the addition on some Spanish wine.
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I would like paperback versions of the existing catalogs for Dorothy, Open Letter, and Dalkey Archive presses, as well as having all newly published works by them mailed to me.
I would like the time and energy to participate in all the great book discussions that interest me, as well as the ability to retain more of what I have read.
To truly make time not an obstacle, I would want the ability to stop time while I read. I might read for several hours, but in real world time it would be the same moment when I start and finish.For setting, I would most like various outdoor places to read, like a park or a quiet spot in the wilderness. Wildlife are welcome to hang out nearby, but no insects or other humans allowed.
I would not change what I read already, just whatever books cross my path that I find interesting enough to give a try. I would probably want to read for about 5 hours per day and I would want the ability to read as slowly as possible. It's an idea I originally got from the film Reuben, Reuben. In it, a poet named Gowan McGland says this in response to some businessmen talking about the wonder of speed reading:
"I, for example, would like to read Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night as slowly as possible. In fact, I would pay vast sums for anyone to teach me to read the books I love at a snail’s pace."
I did my best to try "slow reading" of Tender is the Night by reading roughly one chapter per day (or about 5 pages). I read a bit every day and it took 2 months to finish the book. I just started Pat Barker's Union Street and it feels like a book I want to read very slowly, too. I haven't figured out how to stop time, though. At least, not yet.
I would like to live in a home that looked like the Clementinum Library in Prague. No reading goals, just a lot of time to wander about until I found a book that I wanted to read at that moment. The best chairs ever.
More time to read would be perfect, because there is something wonderful about having the time to pick up a book, find that you like it and then just keep reading it all day until it is finished.I would like some-one to come around to my house and build purpose made bookshelves in all the rooms where I keep my books. That way there would be no wasted wall space and I could probably fit in an extra several hundred. Perhaps at the same time I could have some chairs and sofas reupholstered and re-sprung, to make all my little reading spots more comfortable. And the addition of a sun-room, where I could make the most of the winter sun and have a few more comfortable reading chairs.
The more you think about this question, the more wishes keep coming. And obviously some of that red wine would be nice, Spanish, French, local New Zealand Pinot Noir and some old American Zinfandels. I'll stop there. Don't want to be greedy!!
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@Whitney, @LindaJ @Marcus,Hear, hear, right on! Glad to see others have an appreciation for old-world libations while flipping through their literary pages. 🍷🍷🍷
I second the sun room too.
