"Welcome to the English major.
You will read about 800 pages in the space of a week. Go."
That's not really what my professors said, but it feels like it.
If I were about 12 years old, this wouldn't be out of the ordinary; I'd probably eat it up! And at first, I did. But sitting inside staring at a computer screen quickly turned me into a zombie. I would like to tell my roommates and their boyfriends that I'm not just a lazy bum when they walk in the door and I'm in the same spot they left me 6 hours ago. I was so sick of reading the assigned stuff [not that i didn't like it, i was just in a bad mood] that I picked up my roommates copy of The Time Traveler's Wife. I did something last night that I haven't done in at least two years. At 8:00 p.m., I started reading, and closed the book 5:00 a.m. When I did this as a kid, I'd get grounded from books. Now, I have no one to punish me except for myself; which I'm sure will happen when I start dozing off in the next couple of hours.
Can I be honest? I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Maybe a different book choice would have made this a more gratifying experience [there were far too many swear words and sexy scenes for my liking]. So why did I continue? My reasoning went something like this:
- Love the movie
- At least this is something I have picked
- Can't stop now...
Stealing time from what you must read to what you choose personally somehow makes those reading experiences better, even if the book is not itself better. This is why I am so against teachers dominating all of students' mental time. I'm very glad you took time to read the book!
ReplyDeleteNo, I have not finished Rainbows End. And no, I have not yet started my digital age book. (I'm not a slacker, just a very slow reader.) However, when I was walking home from class today, I saw that the hill by the Maeser Building was green...and beautiful...and empty...and the sunshine attacked me! And I succumbed to its power--I ran home, grabbed Borges' Labyrinths, and ran back to the sunny hill and read for two hours. I was totally procrastinating my *real* homework. But I have not had a more delightful two hours in a long, long time. There's something really wonderful about reading for pleasure. In fact, I think that if I had been reading the exact same text but it had been a homework assignment, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.
ReplyDeleteI echo the above comments
ReplyDelete