I haven’t been reading much lately.
Anna Karenina has been abandoned on my end table in the living room. I pick it up each evening, read 15 pages, and begin to doze. The book isn’t boring, but I am so very tired.
Even the picture books in their library crate have been lonely lately. My daughter Simone is more interested in playing with her Duplos or arguing with me about the television to want to read. But I miss reading with her. My normally not-so-physically-affectionate child reclines against my body as I read. She giggles at the funny parts. Her brother delights at the picture books with bright graphic illustrations. All is right in the world.
When my children insist upon waking up at 6:30 every morning and Jason’s working extra and our days feel sluggish, reading is the first activity to go. We opt for more passive pastimes. In the evenings I stare at my computer without accomplishing anything.
But my happiest days at home with my kids end with us sitting on the couch at 3:00, the special reading quilt draped across our laps. Schoolbuses pass on the street outside. We hear the slam of Jason’s car door in the drive, and Simone hops from her perch on the couch to greet him at the door.
I’m going to take an hour to read to my kids today. How about you?
I understand that sitting at the screen late at night phenomenon! Do it too much. I am trying to put myself into the reading chair or in bed with a book more often now. Change of seasons makes books seems appealing. One thing I do is intersperse lighter reading with the more literary stuff. I just took a little tour of my bookshelves and here are a few suggestions of good writers/books but more “easy” : Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns (l loved this!), anything by Nancy Mitford and Tony Hillerman, Nick Hornby’s series about reading from the Believer magazine (I think the first one is Housekeeping vs the Dirt -at the beginning of each essay he lists the books he bought in the past month and then the books he actually read – amusing and informative!). As William Stafford said when asked how he wrote a poem every day, “I lower my standards”, I find that works for reading as well. You’ll still go into those other worlds that are so appealing.
I love the acknowledgment that books can be good without being too heavy. Too many people confuse “light” with formulaic fluff.
That might make a good post, actually.