What does your reading day look like?

[[deleted user]]

Setting aside the interruptions that come from little things like family and work, this is the reading I like to get done on a particular day:

1. Priority One is to read about 20 pages of a book on Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan. Right now, I'm more than halfway through "War and Peace". (The Last one was "The Origin of Species by Natural Selection".

2. Enough of The New Yorker to finish it by the time the new issue arrives.

3. Two to four comic books, or a chunk of a graphic novel. Gotta keep up. I'm sure Michael understands this.

4. About 20 pages of nonfiction book.

5. The rest of the time, read as much of a good 20th/21st century novel or short story collection as I can.

While I walk, drive, or work out, I listen to book-related podcasts (New Yorker, BOTN, NPR, NYT), as well as recorded books downloaded from audible.com

[Ann]

Eric, I'm exhausted from reading your list! I like how you prioritize, maybe that would help me.

[Linda]

since I took a full-time job 3 weeks ago as a receptionist - and there's nothing to recept, I listen to an audio book on the way to work (20-25 minutes), rI ead from 8 until lunch with the exception of about 5 phone calls and letting people in the office. At lunch, I take my book to the lunch room for 1/2 hour, but usually can't read too much there because people talk loudly. After the half-hour, I return to my desk and the book I'm reading. I listen to the audio book on the return trip home. If I'm close to the end of a book, I may finish it after dinner and Jeopardy.

Linda

[[deleted user]]

On Sundays, I take a desultory paw through the New York Times Book Review, sometimes reviewing the reviewers, checking out the best-seller charts and, sometimes heading to the computer for a back review if something in the NYTBR triggers a memory or curiosity.
On a weekday, I listen to an audiobook to and from work, often finishing a CD or file at home, spend the day at work in the studio and, reading for about two hours at night after my daughter goes to sleep (and if I'm not also wiped out!) Next door, there was an old lady who swallowed a fly... No, no, no... She had a generator that kicked in in the middle of the night that would invariably wake me up and I would read until it was time to get up. The lady has been removed to a nursing care facility and so the generator doesn't kick in and so, I don't read as much now, but I can generally get in about 50 pages a night.
I also read a children's book to my daughter at least 4 times a week but do not count those as books I've read!
I'm actually been very careful not to get caught up in lists anymore. For years I fed my OCD by checking titles off of lists that I carried around with me. Of course I kept adding to the lists as well and that would create a Sisyphean, and unhealthy, situation for myself.

[[deleted user]]

She died, of course.


Sorry. Had to.

[Tressa]

I read for an hour or two before starting my day.
And I try to repeat the process before bed.
Wish I had more time!

I'm recently retired, and still find that there are not enough hours in the day.

[[deleted user]]

Eric wrote: "She died, of course.


Sorry. Had to."

LOL, actually, at first I thought she *had!*

I'm probably gonna burn in hell for this...

[[deleted user]]

I have found that if I don't get to read at my lunch break I get really cranky.

[Bobbi]

Eric: along with Anne,I'm exhausted by your list. But I notice that your post was made at 4:38 AM; is that how you manage to cram so much into your day?

Loved the "She Died, of course" quip; you always were quick with a retort!

[Bobbi]

Lmj, I am SOOOOOO jealous that you have so much reading time during the day!

[[deleted user]]

Bobbi Hahn! Who knew? Friend request made. Yeah, I get up hours before anyone else. I've fallen into weird sleep patterns in my middle age.

[Bobbi]

Eric wrote: "Bobbi Hahn! Who knew? Friend request made. Yeah, I get up hours before anyone else. I've fallen into weird sleep patterns in my middle age. "

Yeah, Eric, well, in another 20 years or so, those "weird sleep patterns" will turn into NO sleep patterns as you go to bed later and later and awaken at...around the time you do now!

[Libby]

I usually listen to a book on tape on the way to and from work, about a 30-minute drive. I like to read at my desk during lunchtime. Sometimes I read in the evenings, but almost always in bed right before going to sleep which often results in staying up later than I intend. Just one more chapter....(Yawn)

Sometimes I listen to audio books while I wash dishes or fold laundry or even take a long bath.

[Linda]

Bobbi wrote: "Lmj, I am SOOOOOO jealous that you have so much reading time during the day!"

It took quite a change of my mental outlook to appreciate this job as just a paycheck. I had been retired for seven years and hated to go back to work, but my husband had gotten laid-off. The first week at work I resented being at work doing nothing (I was getting trained) when I could have been someplace else doing something. I've learned to enjoy and read. - I think it's funny, that even though I read during working hours, I still want to at lunch and don't like that the others are too loud for me to concentrate. I, like Suzanne, get cranky if I can't read at lunch.

In my retirement, I took myself out to breakfast after my morning walk so that I could read - then I got friendly with others in the diner!

Linda

[Julie]

I always make time for reading at some point during the day - but usually at bedtime, now that I'm a FTE. (I also have a knitting habit - do knitting books count??) I tried to start a Classics Book Club discussion in '08, when I was unemployed but it fizzled. I read randomly, but a lot of memoir, short stories (fiction), some poetry and a dash of mysteries and nonfiction or biography thrown in throughout the year. A balanced reading diet! But there's a growing list and a feeling that 'I'm running out of time' to read everything I've ever wanted! (I can relate to the former habit of compulsive list making, feeding the reading OCD, Tanya . .)

[Ann]

Julie wrote: "I always make time for reading at some point during the day - but usually at bedtime, now that I'm a FTE. (I also have a knitting habit - do knitting books count??)"

Here's my take on knitting books, which I love (and cookbooks too, for that matter): if you are reading them while not engaging in the activity itself, then yes, it counts as reading. So if you have the book open because you are making a supply list or figuring out what's for dinner, or following the pattern or the recipe, then nope, doesn't count toward reading time. But if you're just browsing through it, reading the text, then yes, it absolutely counts.

But remember: the beauty of reading for pleasure is that you can make up your own rules!

[[deleted user]]

About knitting books:

Could some kind book-knitter please knit me a book? I'd really like to experience a knitted book. Do you read one by scanning it with your eyes or is it experienced tactily like Braille? ;-)

[Julie]

Eric wrote: "About knitting books:

Could some kind book-knitter please knit me a book? I'd really like to experience a knitted book. Do you read one by scanning it with your eyes or is it experienced tactily l..."


Got me on that one! Knitting as a verb: knitting books - now THAT would be a challenge! Yes, I would think it would be a total tactile experience. Knitting as an adjective: You should see some of these knitting books; total eye candy! Right, Ann??

[Ann]

Here's your knitted book, Eric:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buechert...

Or, here: http://cailun.info/index.php?/archive...

And while I couldn't find a knitted book for you to buy, you *can* purchase a knit sweater for your book:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...

[[deleted user]]

Geez. I don't know what to say. You guys are hard core.

[Stephanie]

Medical leave = reading whenever I want, unfortunately. I love to read, but wish I were teaching.

I am usually into 4-5 books at a time, and I try to give them all at least 50 pages a day.

[Ann]

Stephanie, so sorry about your need to be on medical leave. While so many of us wish for more time to read, I'm sure none of us want it to be anything other than our choice, and certainly not at the expense of our health. Hugs!

[[deleted user]]

Suzanne wrote: "I have found that if I don't get to read at my lunch break I get really cranky. "

dito

[[deleted user]]

I read a book during my breaks and lunch. I read another book at night before I go to bed.

[Chioma]

Hi everyone! i just joined the group. Looking foward to enjoying it!b Ciao...

[Melissa Wiebe]

Because I don't own a car, I take transit which means I am able to read something on the way and from work. Depending on the nature of my work, I will usually read on my breaks and sometimes have gotten a book done while in transit and I didn't have one with me and ended up having to find something to read (when I am close to finishing a book, I will usually bring a second book along with me so that I will be able to read my next book).

I don't generally read after I get home from work, depending on where I am in a book (if I am near the end of a chapter or the section I am reading, I read until I get it done). Before I go to bed, I try to read a little, depending on how tired I am.

Does reading fan fic online count as reading?

[Readnponder]

I read for 30 minutes on my lunch break.
On the evenings I don't have go out, I curl up with a book after dinner and read until bedtime.

I should mention that our TV stopped working last June when the country switched to digital. (The converter box was poor and pitiful.) Without TV, I managed to read 10 books a month. This week, my husband broke down and got cable. I don't know how the return of TV will impact my reading. Hopefully not at all. We'll see!

[Wendy]

I'm probably similar to Melissa. I do find since I"ve gotten my "Nook" I've read more. I was into comics for a bit but couldn't keep up and it was probably an hour out of my way to pick up the books so it didn't work for me. In my case I don't think the TV distracts from reading...if anything it's the other way round as I've never been the type to just "watch" TV. It's more my sim racing and video games that take reading time. I actually have some books I need to read for my sim racing but it's slow going. I suspect I'd get through them faster if they were ebooks.