1featherbear
I also read in chunks, but the tone of this essay makes reading seem more like a job than whatever obscure & dark motivations get me away from the TV to pick up a book/e-reader, though finishing a book does give me satisfaction if the text was worthwhile (or guilty/ticked-off otherwise). Might work for muscle tone or going through my mail, which I'd like to improve:
Laura Vanderkam. LitHub, 05/05/2025: On Making Time to Read War and Peace and Other Great Literary Works. LT touchstone here: War and Peace.
If someone suggests "reading" W&P via audiobook, however, I will scream less like Natasha in the wolf hunt than the children run over because you were distracted by your audio narrator of choice while at the wheel.
Laura Vanderkam. LitHub, 05/05/2025: On Making Time to Read War and Peace and Other Great Literary Works. LT touchstone here: War and Peace.
If someone suggests "reading" W&P via audiobook, however, I will scream less like Natasha in the wolf hunt than the children run over because you were distracted by your audio narrator of choice while at the wheel.
2jillmwo
>1 featherbear:. I agree with you. As presented in the essay, she seems to suggest that the issue is a lack of discipline as well as motivation. The one point I agreed with was this:
My tips would be: (1) Make it easy to give yourself the opportunity to read. Always have a book in hand or on a device you carry with you. (2) Recognize that not all books suit your mental state all the time. I interspersed other titles during the period that I was reading War and Peace because the brain sometimes needed that. (3) Flag w/ a post-it note what it is you find interesting so that you can revisit it as need. Is there a military rank you're unfamiliar with? The flag will remind you to look it up or ask for help here on LT.
Sometimes I think as well we get force-fed books way too early in middle school or high school. Some of the recommended titles can wait until a person has reached the age of 40 and it won't be a real issue. And recognize as well that publishers package things as "classics" that really may not qualify. Take the blurbs with a grain of salt.
We’re raring to go for the first step. It’s the 564,876th step that’s more challenging, when the finish line is no where in sight and you may have forgotten why you started.. It took me three months to get through War and Peace last year.
My tips would be: (1) Make it easy to give yourself the opportunity to read. Always have a book in hand or on a device you carry with you. (2) Recognize that not all books suit your mental state all the time. I interspersed other titles during the period that I was reading War and Peace because the brain sometimes needed that. (3) Flag w/ a post-it note what it is you find interesting so that you can revisit it as need. Is there a military rank you're unfamiliar with? The flag will remind you to look it up or ask for help here on LT.
Sometimes I think as well we get force-fed books way too early in middle school or high school. Some of the recommended titles can wait until a person has reached the age of 40 and it won't be a real issue. And recognize as well that publishers package things as "classics" that really may not qualify. Take the blurbs with a grain of salt.
3thorold
I listened to all the works of Bach at a rate of about 30 minutes a day. This year I’m listening to all of Mozart, mostly as the background music while I’m driving kids around.
Eeek! I think that exposes the pointlessness of letting yourself be driven by arbitrary goals better than anything. The point was to get through the catalogue, not to understand or enjoy any of the individual works in it.
My view — if you need some arbitrary schedule to make yourself read, you’re probably reading the wrong thing.
Eeek! I think that exposes the pointlessness of letting yourself be driven by arbitrary goals better than anything. The point was to get through the catalogue, not to understand or enjoy any of the individual works in it.
My view — if you need some arbitrary schedule to make yourself read, you’re probably reading the wrong thing.
4thorold
I listened to all the works of Bach at a rate of about 30 minutes a day. This year I’m listening to all of Mozart, mostly as the background music while I’m driving kids around.
Eeek! I think that exposes the pointlessness of letting yourself be driven by arbitrary goals better than anything. The point was to get through the catalogue, not to understand or enjoy any of the individual works in it.
My view — if you need some arbitrary schedule to make yourself read, you’re probably reading the wrong thing.
Eeek! I think that exposes the pointlessness of letting yourself be driven by arbitrary goals better than anything. The point was to get through the catalogue, not to understand or enjoy any of the individual works in it.
My view — if you need some arbitrary schedule to make yourself read, you’re probably reading the wrong thing.
5Cecrow
Agree with the general reaction here. The only point to reading something is if you're going to appreciate it. If it's just work you're doing for the sake of saying you did it, you wasted time you could have spent more enjoyably. I can't remember much about War and Peace because I read it one summer in my early teens, but I do know it was because I was liking the story. And that I felt awful for Sonya.
The article doesn't sound all bad. Seems like its author actually did enjoy what they read. If the central point is that reading in small chunks per day works, I can attest to that. Clarissa took me eleven months as spare reading on the side.
The article doesn't sound all bad. Seems like its author actually did enjoy what they read. If the central point is that reading in small chunks per day works, I can attest to that. Clarissa took me eleven months as spare reading on the side.
6krazy4katz
I also was way too young when I read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky but I did enjoy them. I would probably get more out of these books today but I am into other subjects at the moment. Read what you want when you want to. Don't read to "accomplish" anything. Life is too precious for that.
7haydninvienna
>3 thorold: I absolutely agree. The examples—the idea of listening to the St Matthew Passion or The Magic Flute in 30-minute chunks: God help us all!
