Slow Reading

I am frequently amazed by the sheer amount of reading that LT members manage. There is a lot of list making on the site; personally I avoid making lists as I instantly feel over burdened by them.
I wonder what group members will make of this intriguing 'Guardian' article on the subject of reading more slowly. I do this to an extent, reading daily for 10 minutes from a book that seems to deserve this treatment. My most recent exercise was to read London: A Biography by Peter Ackroyd which was a rewarding experience when read in this way.
Here's hoping that my link works as I'm well known in this household for my very limited technical ability.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/02/i-want-to-savour-every-word-the-jo...

I get through a fairly high number of books in a year, though the pandemic saw the number jump considerably and I do have set reading times and also do not watch a lot of tv or spend that much time (comparatively) online. But a lot depends on the book. I recently devoured a short science fiction thriller in two sessions, partly because it engaged me and partly because it was close to novella length. But I'm currently reading a book on the Cuban Missile Crisis, One Hell of a Gamble, and I'm taking it much more slowly, partly because the book's layout (densely packed text, narrow margins, choice of typeface) makes it difficult to read quickly, and partly because the authors have packed a lot of information into its pages.

I only finish 20-30 books per year, I'm astonished too by how many people get to 75 or 100. I can only read about 30 pages tops per day, any more than that and it starts to feel like work instead of pleasure no matter how good the book is. I'd like to read more quantity, comparing my mortality against all that I'd like to tackle, but I'm not about to sacrifice the quality. The result is a lot of rigor in what I select to spent my time on and with a planned rotation through all of my prioritized goals, so the TBR Challenge just the right size for me: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/3801/TBR-Challenge

Maybe the worst part is when someone says "you should read this!", or presents me with a book as a gift and expects I'll tackle it right away. I can't possibly bump it ahead of everything I've scheduled without feeling some resentment, even a bit of stress. Then I have to explain a year later why I still haven't gotten to it.

A little bit per day is the only way to go, you just want to be certain you've chosen a worthwhile mountain to climb when the task is enormous. Clarissa took me eleven months (fortunately not all I read in that time, but still.) I'm only getting through Proust by doing a couple of volumes per year, so that's a four year job. And reading all the Dickens novels ... started in my thirties, will finish in my fifties.

Re-reading anything of substantial size is virtually out of the question. Can't imagine reading my favourites again every year, as some people say they do.

>3 Cecrow: Thank you for the link to the tbr challenge which I had not seen and will investigate.
I too have been known to take many months over a book and I agree that it needs to be worth the investment. I am a bit of a Dickens nut and am currently reading ' Charles Dickens' by Michael Slater - no point in expecting touchstones to pick up that title as there must be so many. It is a great literary biography but pretty dense at times demanding a lot of concentration.
your comments on being pressured to read books is interesting. I tend to think that certain books, often gifts, are looking reproachfully at me from the bookshelves.

I'm thankful for this reminder to slow down and savor the words on the page and to ponder the author's claims. In the last two years, I have bought too many books and got in the habit of rushing through.

>4 Maura49:, how did you choose Slater's biography, among the options? I'm planning to read the one by Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life, mainly by its virtue of being held by the local library but also because she did a fantastic job with Samuel Pepys.

>5 maisiedotes:, as a very scheduled reader I'm more cognizant of how many pages I've gotten though in a given day than I should be. Sometimes though, I get into something and realize I will have to let it breathe and the plan goes out the window. Most recently Within a Budding Grove turned one month into two. To recommend another group (I seem to be doing this a lot?) you can join our Unread Support Group; a tongue-in-cheek mutual empathy chat for people who buy more than they can read: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/1766/Unread-Support-Group

>6 Cecrow: Thanks for that recommendation. I didn't know about the group, but have just joined! Maybe the group will offer some "don't jump off the ledge" (= don't buy it!) hand-holding.

My promise for today: Today I will not race through my reading.

>7 maisiedotes:, there's no doubt I was less critical as a teenager because I thought everything I read was wonderful even when it wasn't and the quality was actually very uneven (I can now say, looking back.) But I also enjoyed my reading more - maybe partly for being less critical, but I think not rushing it also had something to do with it. The virtue of being less conscious of mortality at that age.

>6 Cecrow: The Claire Tomalin book is an excellent read and having enjoyed The Invisible Woman I was not surprised by this. I picked up on Slater because I know that he is a great expert on Dickens often contributing to 'The Dickensian' journal. his emphasis is very much on the work and he does not wallow in the more sensational aspects of Dickens life. Having said that I must admit that he gives a more personality driven biographical account inThe great Charles Dickens scandal which is about Dickens relationship with Ellen Ternan and the end of his marriage.

Many thanks for the group recommendation which sounds intriguing and I will investigate.

Interesting how both biographers found enough substance in the relationship with Ellen Ternan to warrant its own work.

What about Peter Ackroyd's huge bio of Dickens? Read that one years and years ago; never would've been able to afford it, but because I worked in a bookstore at the time, I got a sweet discount.

In terms of "slow reading", there are certain authors it is impossible to read with any speed or ease. I think of Gaddis and William Gass. You really have to take your time with those lads.

Sometimes it's not even the prose that slows me down, I'll just run into someone who can open up doors of memory I haven't seen in years and half my 'reading' time is spent daydreaming instead.

>11 CliffBurns: I have not tried that one. judging by his 'London' tome he will have great empathy with Dickens the London flaneur. I have a feeling that he introduced a fantasy element with Dickens meeting Oscar Wilde in the afterlife.

I realize this discussion is dormant, but having just come across it I'd like to raise a tremulous hand in support of reading strictly for pleasure -- whatever one likes, whenever one likes, and for as long as one likes. I'm an undisciplined reader. Serendipity leads me this way or that way, and I meekly follow. The most important consideration in my choice of material is that I be in a receptive mood to what the author is offering. Sometimes I'll take down a book that's been in the house for years, find it utterly fascinating, and berate myself for having ignored it for so long, but it had to be discovered when my mind was ready for it. I can't possibly follow lists or challenges because I can't possibly anticipate what state of mind I'll be in 6 or 12 months on. Everyone is welcome to their own methods, of course, and that books are being read for any reason is a happy condition, but I'm compelled by my curmudgeonly prejudices to say that reading books for quantity is of all reasons the least admirable.