ReadingHacks poll: Does reading make you sleepy?
I was thinking about reading habits today. It is my job afterall. In particular, I was thinking about the fact that when I read in bed at night it tends to make me sleepy and I often struggle to get through more than a handful of pages. My wife on the other hand may start a book in the evening, and depending on the book, it is quite possible that she will find herself unable to sleep until she has finished it.
This may just be a function of whether you are a night owl or and early-to-bed type person. I’m not really sure.
What about you? Is reading more likely to put you to sleep, or wake you up.
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Insomniac linkage
I am currently wide awake in the middle of the night. In order to see some benefit from this, I’ll share a few things that have been open in my browser for the last few days:
- The Globe and Mail has an article about why reading fiction is good for us. Just in case me telling you so wasn’t enough.
- BestCollegesOnline.com have posted a list of what they consider to be the 25 most modern libraries in the world. Apparently, “Libraries aren’t just musty places to store books with librarians shushing anyone who makes a peep.”
- ReaderGear.com has come across a little rack that lets you read in the bath. Of course none of you would dream of risking this with a library book would you?
- Bookhuddle.com is a new entrant in the LibraryThing/Shelfari/etc genre of websites to list your books and interact with other readers. I’ve only had a very brief look and don’t think that it will take me away from LibraryThing at the moment. One thing I notice is a very strong Amazon connection. Amazon reviews, ratings, and descriptions appear in the book details pages and there are links to buy the books. It also automatically sets up a few “lists” for you, like “books I have read”, “books I own”, “books I want to read” etc. You can make more lists of course.
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You do not have to finish a book just because you started it
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say “Once I’ve started a book I just feel like I have to finish it”, then I’d be… well, not rich, but I’d certainly be able to buy a couple of new hardbacks.
I’m all for people being able to read what they like, when they like, and to approach their reading however they want. But I don’t think the “I have to finish every book I start” approach is all that helpful. I am not entirely sure of the motivation to finish a book you are not enjoying. It may be because reading is generally considered “good for you” (which I agree with) and therefore you need to soldier on and do what is good for you (which I don’t agree with). Just because reading is good for you, does not mean that reading this particular book is good for you. If you don’t enjoy it, I would argue that may well be bad for you.
Perhaps the motivation is not wanting to feel like you are giving up. Choosing not to finish a book is not giving up. It is simply acknowledging that the particular book is not the right book for you at the right time. Maybe it will be the right book for you another time. Maybe it never will.
I have known some people who will soldier on through a book they do not like simple because it is a “serious” literary work that won an award as if that in itself is reason enough to soldier on. Like it’s medicine or something - tastes feral, but good for you. I happen to quite like a lot of what gets called “literary” fiction. But if you don’t like it, don’t read it. If you usually like that sort of thing, but don’t like a particular title, then don’t read it. Just because it won the Booker prize, doesn’t mean you have to read it. Grab something else off the shortlist. Or the long list even. Find the ones you like.
To do this is not necessarily a criticism of the author or the book. Just because a book fails to click with you at this particular time does not mean it is badly written. It is just not the right book for you. Or it is the right book but at the wrong time. Of course, it may be that the book is badly written, but that’s another issue.
Nancy Pearl, something of a cult figure among some librarians since she became the model for a librarian action figure has formalized this approach as her “rule of fifty“.
If you’re fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100. The result is the number of pages you should read before deciding.
If you are currently in the midst of a book you do not enjoy. If you are struggling through a novel that you only plan to finish out of some view that says putting it down is a failure. Then feel free to stop. Get another book. One you actually enjoy. One that makes you want to read on and on and on. I have a masters degree in reading books (well in library science, anyway) and I am hereby giving you permission to put down a book halfway through and stop reading it. Don’t worry. The earth will not open up and swallow you. Librarians will not scoff at your weak will and lack of perserverance. People will not point at you in the street and laugh.
On the contrary, they will be amazed. They will stop and say, “There’s that person who managed to stop reading the wrong book and start reading the right one.” You will be happier. Your face will glow. People will find you more attractive. The world will be a better place. You may even win the lottery.
You will not miss the book. Not once you get stuck into the right book.
So go get that book you are reading. The one you don’t actually like. The one you are only reading because it won an award. The one you are only reading because everyone else is reading it and it’s being made into a movie. The one you are only reading because your Mum gave it to you for Christmas. Take your bookmark out of it, return the book to the library, put it back on your shelf for next year, sell it on eBay, take it to the Op shop, make recycled art out of it.
And go read another book.
There are far too many really good books in the world to waste your precious time reading one you don’t like.
What about you? Do you have to finish everything you start, or will you happily put down a book that fails to grab you? If you do stop reading, how do you decide when to let it go?
