Category Archives: Miscellaneous

I was never someone who read more than one book at a time.

Now I’m the person who has a graphic novel on my tablet through Hoopla, an audiobook to listen to through Libby, a book sitting on the kitchenette table in my office during lunch, and an eReader or a print book that travels around with me in my work bag and purse with the added Netgalley shelf app newly downloaded to my phone.

With this kind of access, I am definitely not reading one book at a time anymore.

Who am I?

Liniers is an Argentine cartoonist who creates the Macanudo comic strip.

Several years ago the local newspaper began printing it in the comics section and I was instantly hooked because a frequently-used character is Henrietta who has a sidekick cat named Fellini and also a teddy bear named Mandelbaum. She is a reader and the comics featuring her usually feature her reading (in bed, in nature) and pondering the world of books and mining the depths of her imagination. Last week’s hit me, as it would with many readers, hard with its snapshot of our relationship with reading.

Simply, it’s all about the feelings.

I read plenty. I also know plenty of readers and in discussing books find that their ability to remember details (like the plot) are much stronger than mine. I usually remember the details that resonated with me and always always the feeling when I finished it; awestruck, quiet, emotional, frustrated, and the list goes on.

Coincidentally, I’ve been engaged in work with my school district through Yale’s RULER, which is a systemic approach to social emotional learning that begins with the staff and then works its way down to the students. What I’ve learned is that I don’t know much about emotions. And like one participate shared yesterday, the kids are actually better at it than the adults are. I’m learning every day to be able to be that “emotional scientist” takes work especially in being able to appropriately name the actual emotion that you might be feeling at a specific moment. It’s hard work but I’m here for it.

Somehow I think Henrietta is a pretty good judge, as her little girl self, with feeling her feelings especially when they come to books. I would like to think that she, like me, has bookshelves upon bookshelves that are there for very specific reasons because they elicited very specific feelings from them. The Virgin Suicides by Eugenides? Epic sadness with a twinge of desperation and longing. Challenger Deep by Shusterman? Deeply moved by Caden’s internal struggle.

Are you like Henrietta and me and remember the feelings from the books stronger or are you the type of reader that remembers the plot, setting, and characters primary and the feelings secondary?

I listen to quite a few audiobooks, preferring to listen in the car, while doing housework, getting ready in the mornings, and when I walk the dog. I’ve recently borrowed 30-hour audiobooks (an Ernest Hemingway biography) and last year the 24-hour Moby Dick. Then there was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s newest called Notes on Grief that was a little more than one hour. I know I move through audiobooks quickly because I am a reader and I can always find time to read, but I also set the speed to 1.25 and sometimes (if I can get away with it depending on the narrator and topic) 1.5. It’s been too long since I’ve listened at 1x speed. At what speed do you read?

Plus I read quite a few books too. It’s kind of the reason I have this blog, to talk about books, reading, and school librarianship. So that shouldn’t be surprising. I move through picture books, middle grade, YA, and adult with fluidity based on mood but also out of necessity as I’m current on an award committee that has a strict reading requirement, but I also review for professional magazines, and obviously for readers advisory for my students. Some books are comfortably formulaic and don’t require as much effort. I find myself reading shallowly with some so that I can indulge more languidly with others. Yet, I still read more than the average person. Most notably, during the pandemic (of which I’ve written about here), I read at least one book a day for over a year. It adds up to quite a lot. And it’s not to compete with others, it’s simply how I like to do my reading and feel on top of my game. There are times that others have commented about how much I read and my usual response is something along the lines of we make time for what we love and value. Their comment is usually followed by what a slow reader they are and my response to that is so what? Which led to this post and this question: at what speed do you read?