Since I'm a historian, I have to read texts in full in order to gleam the sort of information and citations I need to write my own articles and books. Professional commitments that are made involving long texts helps.
That statement perfectly captures my own experience! Setting aside 15 minutes for focused listening before bed deepens my connection with audiobooks. In that quiet space when the world settles down, I can fully immerse myself in the narrative, allowing the characters and plot to come alive in my imagination. This simple, consistent practice acts as a soothing nightly ritual and powerfully demonstrates that regular listening yields far more than sporadic long sessions. It undoubtedly enriches the experience and cultivates a deeper appreciation for the material. Thank you for sharing such a valuable insight!
I belong to a book club, forcing me to read one book a month in addition to those I read otherwise. I too find lengthy reads more challenging as I get older (I'm in my 60s), but I don't know how much of that to attribute to the current smartphone/online context and how much to simply aging.
Very good ways to keep reading alive in our daily struggle with time. I see that you use an extensive way, on the contrary I use a reductive selective method choosing one/two/three kinds of readings ( for example philosophy/psychology) and within these the more pertinent to my work/interest, trying to deepen and widen the range of reading through some specific references in them. And sometimes for fast reading I go straight to the focus starting from a special chapter of interest, or from the end of the book I go back. I would like to have much more time ….Also selection takes time….
Since reading is like breathing to me, I don't even consider that I have to make time for reading. There is no more important activity for me to do in my life. I guess not having children or being retired might qualify those statements, but I've been this way my whole life.
I don’t read a lot of books. “Long form” essays on places like Substack are all-consuming to me. But one method I use to read at least some is reading aloud to my spouse. We have different, but compatible, interests, so a book we both like read together is a double win: we both experienced a book and it’s a wonderful way to spend time together (as opposed to just existing comfortably in the same space).
I tend to listen to books rather than read them on the screen or paper. Frankly, I am too busy writing and handling the other things I do in my life. I listen in the car, gym and whenever I am doing something menial ... or when a book grabs me so much I can't stop.
My answer is similar to David’s, I notice happily— I lucked into a job reviewing books, and I’ve got so many book reviews on my plate that I have to read almost every day. If I skip a few days to focus on other things, I’m forced to have a few days where I read for many hours.
I love it— the only thing keeping it from being a dream job is that it pays peanuts. But it’s definitely a great thing to have on my list of freelance work, alongside things that pay by the hour, and it helps keep me sane.
Currently a few pages away from finishing the Cynthia Ozick career compendium, and I pitched it to my editor to force me to read the whole thing. It’s a big mountain of great writing.
I discovered Borges purely by chance. It was the night before my final pre-university exam, and I was already tired of revising notes. I remembered I had bought a cheap paperback edition of Ficciones, since it was part of our Literature syllabus. Until that moment, I knew nothing about Borges. Our teacher, probably out of fear or sheer pragmatism, had skipped him entirely. My guess is she found him too overwhelming and knew we could always dodge that question if it came up in the exam.
Still, curiosity got the better of me, so I opened the book. I did not read much that night. I was seventeen, more sleepy than cultured. But what I read left a mark. The Aleph and The House of Asterion. It was the first time I realised a short story could contain more ideas, more vertigo and more mystery than many novels combined.
The exam came and went, months passed, but Borges stayed with me. A couple of years later, at university, I read The Immortal. That story alone changed my sense of time, language, body, eternity and death. All in just a handful of pages. Borges taught me something I have never forgotten: the weight of a text has nothing to do with its length.
But there is something more. Borges did not just change the way I read. He also helped me find my own voice. His way of blending erudition with fiction, his playful seriousness, his belief that literature is a labyrinth we both create and inherit. All of that shaped the way I wanted to write. Later, writers like Sadegh Hedayat opened other doors, but Borges was the first. He made me believe the page could hold the entire universe if you knew how to fold it the right way.
I do read less than I would like to these days, caught between screens, deadlines and distractions. But every time I return to Borges, because I always return to Borges, I remember why I read in the first place.
I'd consider Robert Fulghum's Third Wish, two volumes totaling around a thousand pages, a fairly long and enjoyable, delightful read.
I'm probably more than twice as old as you, and most folks reading this, hence I've different reading habits. The thought of a book in hand, perhaps a shot of Irish on the table beside me is my idea of ultimate comfort.
As with anything, it's a matter of priorities. I make time for reading by not watching as many movies and TV shows as I would like. In the mornings, I give myself at least an hour for reading in bed before I start the day, and aim to read at least one book a week, often more. Most weeks I also get through at least one audiobook because that's something I can do while doing something else - cooking, cleaning, modelmaking, gardening, or whatever.
Since I'm a historian, I have to read texts in full in order to gleam the sort of information and citations I need to write my own articles and books. Professional commitments that are made involving long texts helps.
Yes, they do. And I also get the feeling that I need to read other stuff to balance them - for "fun" (it's all mostly fun as I'm not a professional)
That statement perfectly captures my own experience! Setting aside 15 minutes for focused listening before bed deepens my connection with audiobooks. In that quiet space when the world settles down, I can fully immerse myself in the narrative, allowing the characters and plot to come alive in my imagination. This simple, consistent practice acts as a soothing nightly ritual and powerfully demonstrates that regular listening yields far more than sporadic long sessions. It undoubtedly enriches the experience and cultivates a deeper appreciation for the material. Thank you for sharing such a valuable insight!
Yes. it is hard to digest, this work but I did in 2 years.
I belong to a book club, forcing me to read one book a month in addition to those I read otherwise. I too find lengthy reads more challenging as I get older (I'm in my 60s), but I don't know how much of that to attribute to the current smartphone/online context and how much to simply aging.
Getting up early is my preferred tactic. The quietness of early morning makes it a lovely time to read.
Very good ways to keep reading alive in our daily struggle with time. I see that you use an extensive way, on the contrary I use a reductive selective method choosing one/two/three kinds of readings ( for example philosophy/psychology) and within these the more pertinent to my work/interest, trying to deepen and widen the range of reading through some specific references in them. And sometimes for fast reading I go straight to the focus starting from a special chapter of interest, or from the end of the book I go back. I would like to have much more time ….Also selection takes time….
Since reading is like breathing to me, I don't even consider that I have to make time for reading. There is no more important activity for me to do in my life. I guess not having children or being retired might qualify those statements, but I've been this way my whole life.
I don’t read a lot of books. “Long form” essays on places like Substack are all-consuming to me. But one method I use to read at least some is reading aloud to my spouse. We have different, but compatible, interests, so a book we both like read together is a double win: we both experienced a book and it’s a wonderful way to spend time together (as opposed to just existing comfortably in the same space).
I tend to listen to books rather than read them on the screen or paper. Frankly, I am too busy writing and handling the other things I do in my life. I listen in the car, gym and whenever I am doing something menial ... or when a book grabs me so much I can't stop.
My answer is similar to David’s, I notice happily— I lucked into a job reviewing books, and I’ve got so many book reviews on my plate that I have to read almost every day. If I skip a few days to focus on other things, I’m forced to have a few days where I read for many hours.
Do you like what you do? Cause it sounds like the dream job...
I love it— the only thing keeping it from being a dream job is that it pays peanuts. But it’s definitely a great thing to have on my list of freelance work, alongside things that pay by the hour, and it helps keep me sane.
Currently a few pages away from finishing the Cynthia Ozick career compendium, and I pitched it to my editor to force me to read the whole thing. It’s a big mountain of great writing.
I discovered Borges purely by chance. It was the night before my final pre-university exam, and I was already tired of revising notes. I remembered I had bought a cheap paperback edition of Ficciones, since it was part of our Literature syllabus. Until that moment, I knew nothing about Borges. Our teacher, probably out of fear or sheer pragmatism, had skipped him entirely. My guess is she found him too overwhelming and knew we could always dodge that question if it came up in the exam.
Still, curiosity got the better of me, so I opened the book. I did not read much that night. I was seventeen, more sleepy than cultured. But what I read left a mark. The Aleph and The House of Asterion. It was the first time I realised a short story could contain more ideas, more vertigo and more mystery than many novels combined.
The exam came and went, months passed, but Borges stayed with me. A couple of years later, at university, I read The Immortal. That story alone changed my sense of time, language, body, eternity and death. All in just a handful of pages. Borges taught me something I have never forgotten: the weight of a text has nothing to do with its length.
But there is something more. Borges did not just change the way I read. He also helped me find my own voice. His way of blending erudition with fiction, his playful seriousness, his belief that literature is a labyrinth we both create and inherit. All of that shaped the way I wanted to write. Later, writers like Sadegh Hedayat opened other doors, but Borges was the first. He made me believe the page could hold the entire universe if you knew how to fold it the right way.
I do read less than I would like to these days, caught between screens, deadlines and distractions. But every time I return to Borges, because I always return to Borges, I remember why I read in the first place.
What's a long read?
I'd consider Robert Fulghum's Third Wish, two volumes totaling around a thousand pages, a fairly long and enjoyable, delightful read.
I'm probably more than twice as old as you, and most folks reading this, hence I've different reading habits. The thought of a book in hand, perhaps a shot of Irish on the table beside me is my idea of ultimate comfort.
As with anything, it's a matter of priorities. I make time for reading by not watching as many movies and TV shows as I would like. In the mornings, I give myself at least an hour for reading in bed before I start the day, and aim to read at least one book a week, often more. Most weeks I also get through at least one audiobook because that's something I can do while doing something else - cooking, cleaning, modelmaking, gardening, or whatever.