Reading Goals

Wow ... and I thought my goal of 150 books in a year was ambitious! But yesterday I read a Slate article by Jeff Ryan. His 2012 goal was 366 books - and he achieved it. Sort of. That total did include (according to one estimate I saw) 122 full-length comics/graphic novels, as well as an unspecified number of audio books.

And I take issue with the audio books in particular. Not the format itself, per se, just the inclusion of them as books read. Different people have different learning styles, and some people may absorb more from the audio version of a book than from struggling through the print form. Personally, I'm not the best listener to begin with, and I find audio books painfully slow when I could get through well over 600 words a minute on my own. But most of all, by definition, "reading" is looking at (or feeling, if you're blind) and interpreting printed characters. Hearing an audio version of a books is listening - NOT reading. The characters are already decoded and, to an extent (by vocal tone), also interpreted for you. I won't say it's a wrong way to consume a book ... but I am adamant that it is not reading.

Graphic novels/comics is a bit greyer area for me. To be honest, my own grand total of 158 books last year included a dozen or so children's books ... and two full-length comics: an Archie novella and a Dennis the Menace collection. (Naturally I didn't include any short comic books; neither would I ever include any magazines although I can easily spend multiple hours on some.) At least graphic books are still books and you are still reading. They're certainly not high literature, but there's nothing wrong with a little fluff and pure enjoyment in your reading diet either. I guess it comes down to an issue of guilt, actually; I feel I should have spent at least a minimal amount of time on a book for it to really "count" or be significant and worthy of inclusion in such a list. Unfortunately on Goodreads there is no way of adding a book to your record but not including it in the reading challenge total. My own solution for this year is to set a substantially lower goal - somewhere between 75 and 100 books - and to just know within myself that, if I do exceed it, there were likely some shorter volumes padding the numbers but I at least read a minimal number of "real" books - ones 100 pages plus at the very least.

And I would surmise that, excluding the comics and audio books, that's probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of what Jeff Ryan actually read last year too. After all, like most people he does have a life with a job and family he can't neglect. The biggest asset I see in the whole reading goal setting process isn't the end number anyway. It's the fact that you are prioritising reading, saying you want to make it a significant part of your life and committing to do it on a regular basis. Ryan gave up listening to music and playing video games, as well as severely limiting his movie/TV viewing. It's all about choices, and he deliberately chose to make reading an important activity. Whether he read 100 or 300 books by year's end is almost irrelevant. The choice to read more is what matters, and it's a choice most people could benefit from making as well.

The Joy of Rereading

It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.

That's a quote from C. S. Lewis (brilliant man) that I read yesterday. And I agree it is a good rule in general. Kids know it instinctively, of course; they will ask for a favourite story to be read over and over ad nauseum. (My personal favourites were a little pink Noddy book and "A Child's Garden of Verses"). I used to reread on my own quite regularly too. I practically wore out my L. M. Montgomery books. I read the Little House series repeatedly too, and I've read my Betsy-Tacy book plenty as well.

But for quite a few years now I've done very little in the way of rereading. There is just so much new to read! I have dozens of unread books in my own library, hundreds of ebooks, and the libraries I visit have the annoying habit of acquiring tantalising new books all the time too. I do read a lot - far more than most people - but I already have plenty on my "to read soon" list ... do I really have room in my life to take the time on a book I've already read at least once? Life is finite, after all.

Yes, I think I should make the room for the literary stars in my life. Truly good books are always worth it. And every time you read a book you get something different out of it because every time you read it you are a different person. One of the highlights of my reading year so far was rereading "A Secret Garden". It was definitely worth it. I'd completely forgotten how wonderfully uplifting it is.

Perhaps one book in two is a bit ambitious, though. One in three or four might be more realistic just now - at least until I get caught up on my backlog. After all, there are a lot more books available than in Lewis' day! (I wonder if sequels/series books count? The individual volume may be new, but it's sort of like revisiting old friends and neighbourhoods you used to know.) Anyway, I do think I will plan on a little more rereading than I might have otherwise. I think it might be good for me to go a long way back to some of my old favourites. Perhaps I'll find a little bit of myself I'd forgotten there too.

Words from Richard Peck

This week I read a wonderfully engrossing article by Richard Peck - one of my all-time most admired authors - on the Horn Book site. It was excerpted from a talk he gave back in October and offered insights for writers, readers, and all those who care about literature for children. 

Peck reminded us that only readers will ever become writers, and that readers are particularly lucky in that they can continue to commune with their inspirations and role models long after they are dead through the gift of their words. 

He stressed that all writing (including fiction) begins with research - we write far beyond what we know to what we can discover (or, I might add, imagine). He spoke a bit about viewpoint too, how the writer's voice is the one that shouldn't be in the book, how the story should be about the person you would like to be far more than the one you already are.

And he had some pretty pointed comments about today's text and tweet generation who live their lives so far removed from adults - and the literary and linguistic examples they once provided. He cited a recent poll in which as many high school seniors (SENIORS!) believed that the U.S. fought Spain during the American Revolution as England (and France was a close third). I was under the impression that one thing Americans prided themselves on - and taught thoroughly - was a good grasp of their noble history. Apparently that grasp is more tenuous than I thought. As Peck pretty aptly stated, the majority seem to "believe that history began with their births and geography is wherever they are".

The best quote of all, however, came at the very end of the article' last paragraph, in which he reminisced fondly about all the amazing places children's literature has taken us to. He said: "if you cannot find yourself on the page very early in life, you will go looking for yourself in all the wrong places". How perfect. How true.