The Need to Read

*Originally published on my Wordpress blog 05.29.2020 

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”  Stephen King

Ah, yes, reading. Reading is what I depend on to get myself through the day, through a pandemic, through life. Some people go to wine, or weed, or chocolate, or maybe video games. I go to books. If you were to ask anyone who knows me well, to describe me via three of the activities I do, reading would likely be at the first thing they think of (followed by bicycling/walking and then painting).

I wonder what it is about reading that satisfies me so much. I would rather read than watch television. In most cases, I would rather read than socialize. In all cases, I would rather read than go shopping. Reading is my default for relaxation, for escape, for ease, in good times and bad times. I will always pick up something to read if I need comfort, entertainment, stimulation, a friend. I seldom drive away from the house without putting something to read in the car (just in case I get a flat tire and have to wait for AAA). I will never go to the beach or the dentist without something to read. Book reviews are like magnets to me. I can’t see one without being drawn to it. They attract me in newsletters, web sites, podcasts, and online and IRL publications.

I have different reading moods. Sometimes I read for information. I am curious about so many parts of the seen and unseen world that I could never read all the non-fiction books that I imagine reading. I am keenly interested in global, national, and local issues and read a fair amount of on line or hardcopy periodicals. I like to participate, at some level, in the conversations that shape our world. Reading allows me entry to those conversations. Sometimes I want a good story, just a simple plot and/or character driven story. I have a host of favorite fiction authors and I am always excited to read new offerings from them. I am also eager to read debut authors. It’s a stellar day when I find a new favorite author of fiction. Sometimes I want more reflective reading. I enjoy poetry, memoir, and essays mostly because they often give me reason to just pause, breathe, and enjoy the language.

The County library allows a patron to have up to 25 books on their hold list. Guess how many books I almost always have on the hold list? Okay, it’s not always 25 but I would say it consistently hovers around 20. I don’t necessarily read all those books cover to cover. Sometimes I want the book for some specific piece of information it can give me, sometimes I just skim the book, and sometimes I give the book my 50 page rule. That is to say, if the book does not have my full attention after 50 pages, then I am free to put it down forever. If you’re buying books that feels like a waste. But that’s what libraries are for. Sample the book and send it back, if necessary.

Again I ask: what is it that is so satisfying about reading? Perhaps reading plays with that part of my brain that wants excitement and novelty, wants to learn, wants to feel, wants to be alive. I find myself sometimes reading and rereading some passages just because I delight in the way the words sound. Occasionally I am taken with the way the words make me feel, even when that feeling is ephemeral and difficult to describe. I do think reading connects me to something. Sometimes the connection is to the author or to the content. More often, the reading connects me to some part of myself. Maybe that’s it. Reading is about connecting. Connecting allows me not to be alone in my doubts, my thoughts, my dreams, my imagination.

 

Does this fit?

“We read books to find out who we are. What other people , real or imaginary, do and think and feel…is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.”           Ursula L. Le Guin

Yes, I like that.