I notice, so much, when I'm out in the world and when I've been reading vs. when I haven't. It's like filling up my tank before going for a drive.
I was going to write about this (and still might) but an actor I worked with was really into carpentry and he described it the same way. He said, it's really not even about building a chair or a bowl or whatever. It was something like "woodworking helps me stay peaceful during traffic, it helps me with my taxes, it helps in my relationship." I think of reading the same way.
this rocks . crazy how much this rocks. i feel like ive been in the process of discovery with this and youve opened some doors for me that i didnt have the keys to yet. yippee!! thank you!! 😁👍👍👍
The other day I got to melt and flow like mercury to the sound of my husband reading /out loud/ to me and it was one of the highest pleasures I’ve ever experienced. Literature has been opening up for me right now, too, and I hunger to share it but I don’t even write. It felt like beholding that vast living heritage together with my beloved and I wept with gratitude.
i love this. i have learned a ton about my reading habits in the last few years and letting go of my own weird misconceptions (my equivalent of JP's books you "should" read to be a "serious" reader) has really helped. i've stopped counting the # of books i read, which i've done for maybe a decade!, because it makes me less inclined to read longer books that i actually do want to read. i also no longer join reading challenges/book bingos because although i find joy in finding books to fit the categories, i often don't actually enjoy the books that much.
and i've been checking out lots of nonfiction/reference books from the library about my new special topics interests (gardening & local nature), vaguely pawing through them, and returning them weeks later mostly unread- but i'm still enjoying looking at them & have them on my wishlist for another day. does "looking" at a book "count" as "reading"? idk, but who's counting??
the thing i'm working on right now is stopping feeling like i "can't" read certain books "yet" (i.e. "you just got this book you really wanted as a gift and you should save it because reading it right now would be like eating dessert before dinner." it's not dessert. it's a book!!!)
"My return to reading was a collaboration between play and discipline, child and parent. Curiosity supplies the energy. Curiosity is attention’s white-hot spearpoint. I am its guide. I take aim."
Love the Simone Weil quote. It’s why we all have shelves of books we haven’t read yet. I love scanning the shelf when I’m ready for a new book and grabbing what I actually NEED to read.
Yes! Yes! I've been making an active effort for the last year and a half to read! I'm slowly making myself sit with a physical book more and it's so satisfying. It's still hard to find the time away from the phone, screens and other people but it's so worth it.
Something about this piece evoked memories of getting told off for devouring Judy Blume in school - a time when I would grab every last minute to read and was in the flow state you describe
You’ve reminded me of being 12 or 13 and devouring the many Bantam teen romance books we had in our local library. Not that I’m comparing them quality-wise to Judy Blume, but it was a time when I was borrowing armfuls and spending most of my free time reading, like half the other girls in my class.
And then our English teacher announced that she disapproved of our reading that kind of book instead of ‘quality’ literature. She spoke to the local librarian and somehow had them removed. It didn’t make me suddenly start binging Austen or Steinbeck instead; I just stopped reading for pleasure for years. And I still feel like I’m always trying to find my way back to that uncomplicated flow state you mentioned, because since then I’ve carried a vague anxiety about whether what I’m reading is good enough.
The things teachers say can really affect us! These days I love a mixture of the sacred and the profane… booker prize winners and then total trash haha! Whatever you like to read is good enough :)))
i would never admit envy to the hummingbird, but we can agree we are better off than the indolent alligator, who only rouses himself seasonally for a single gulp of whole meats
I notice, so much, when I'm out in the world and when I've been reading vs. when I haven't. It's like filling up my tank before going for a drive.
I was going to write about this (and still might) but an actor I worked with was really into carpentry and he described it the same way. He said, it's really not even about building a chair or a bowl or whatever. It was something like "woodworking helps me stay peaceful during traffic, it helps me with my taxes, it helps in my relationship." I think of reading the same way.
this rocks . crazy how much this rocks. i feel like ive been in the process of discovery with this and youve opened some doors for me that i didnt have the keys to yet. yippee!! thank you!! 😁👍👍👍
The other day I got to melt and flow like mercury to the sound of my husband reading /out loud/ to me and it was one of the highest pleasures I’ve ever experienced. Literature has been opening up for me right now, too, and I hunger to share it but I don’t even write. It felt like beholding that vast living heritage together with my beloved and I wept with gratitude.
Being read to by someone you love sounds like a dream!
i love this. i have learned a ton about my reading habits in the last few years and letting go of my own weird misconceptions (my equivalent of JP's books you "should" read to be a "serious" reader) has really helped. i've stopped counting the # of books i read, which i've done for maybe a decade!, because it makes me less inclined to read longer books that i actually do want to read. i also no longer join reading challenges/book bingos because although i find joy in finding books to fit the categories, i often don't actually enjoy the books that much.
and i've been checking out lots of nonfiction/reference books from the library about my new special topics interests (gardening & local nature), vaguely pawing through them, and returning them weeks later mostly unread- but i'm still enjoying looking at them & have them on my wishlist for another day. does "looking" at a book "count" as "reading"? idk, but who's counting??
the thing i'm working on right now is stopping feeling like i "can't" read certain books "yet" (i.e. "you just got this book you really wanted as a gift and you should save it because reading it right now would be like eating dessert before dinner." it's not dessert. it's a book!!!)
"My return to reading was a collaboration between play and discipline, child and parent. Curiosity supplies the energy. Curiosity is attention’s white-hot spearpoint. I am its guide. I take aim."
wow. i loved this essay. very insightful.
Love the Simone Weil quote. It’s why we all have shelves of books we haven’t read yet. I love scanning the shelf when I’m ready for a new book and grabbing what I actually NEED to read.
Yes! Yes! I've been making an active effort for the last year and a half to read! I'm slowly making myself sit with a physical book more and it's so satisfying. It's still hard to find the time away from the phone, screens and other people but it's so worth it.
It has become a cliche, but it is content like this that is a true salvation, a life raft, in these distressing times, intellectually and spiritually.
Something about this piece evoked memories of getting told off for devouring Judy Blume in school - a time when I would grab every last minute to read and was in the flow state you describe
You’ve reminded me of being 12 or 13 and devouring the many Bantam teen romance books we had in our local library. Not that I’m comparing them quality-wise to Judy Blume, but it was a time when I was borrowing armfuls and spending most of my free time reading, like half the other girls in my class.
And then our English teacher announced that she disapproved of our reading that kind of book instead of ‘quality’ literature. She spoke to the local librarian and somehow had them removed. It didn’t make me suddenly start binging Austen or Steinbeck instead; I just stopped reading for pleasure for years. And I still feel like I’m always trying to find my way back to that uncomplicated flow state you mentioned, because since then I’ve carried a vague anxiety about whether what I’m reading is good enough.
The things teachers say can really affect us! These days I love a mixture of the sacred and the profane… booker prize winners and then total trash haha! Whatever you like to read is good enough :)))
This could help people, as many of the wonderful things you’ve written no doubt have before; but I really hope this reaches a lot of people.
Fantastic insight. This is smack-dab where I'm at (especially in new retirement). Thank you for this.
Really really love this. It’s incredible how much reading books reshapes your mind for the better. How beautiful!
i would never admit envy to the hummingbird, but we can agree we are better off than the indolent alligator, who only rouses himself seasonally for a single gulp of whole meats
This feels like good medicine. Thank you.
Dang I needed to read this
Thank you JP, I needed this. And right on time for Gemini season. I can’t wait to print this out and read it again with a highlighter.