I’ve never been a reader. My father’s an avid reader; my sister’s an avid reader… I’m now living in a house of avid readers. None of it really rubs off on me. Perhaps I received the non-reading gene from my mother, who is on the other side of the spectrum from my father and sister. She is sitting very close to me.
I wouldn’t consider myself as someone who struggles to focus consistently (… I’ll give that some thought), but for some reason reading has just never been able to keep my focus. I always seem to need to have some body part active- whether it’s moving lips, or typing fingers, or roving eyes… Reading a book just doesn’t seem to cause my eyes to rove quite enough. I was ‘blessed’ to go to a high school that, at the time I attended, made Mathematics and English the only compulsory subjects- no choice to make between Social Studies and History, or Literature and Religious Knowledge, or any such permutation. As such, I bypassed all of the above. I stuck with the sciences (silly me), and other less text-based subjects. It’s no wonder that I hated Biology (despite the fact that that’s what my mother teaches), and struggled in it.
My reluctance to read has led to several consequences. The most obvious of them is that I’m not equip with the greatest vocabulary. I’m told that I get around that by using the words I know well. Another problem, as I realized after, is that it caused my love for Math to become suppressed- Math at UWI drifted away from numbers and involved quite a bit more reading- some courses didn’t even require calculators. But perhaps the greatest problem is the one I currently face- it’s impossible to survive in the workplace without reading. My area of study requires that I read quite a bit, and stay current, something that I’ve struggled to do. My General Manager and Managing Director have thrown lots of paperwork in front of me, some of which I’ve still not touched.
My father made fun of me because “Who Moved My Cheese” took me forever to read. As interesting a book as it was, it took me forever to really get going with it, because I’d get through 2 pages and fall asleep. That’s how severe my dislike for reading can become. It was no coincidence that I decided to read it when I was amongst my friends- it was all in an effort to keep me alert.
It’s no longer simply a preference; it’s now a lifestyle. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to learn to love reading.
8 comments:
Tho obviously I am one of those avid readers you mentioned, I do know what you mean. So many of my friends (oddly enough especially the male ones) have found themselves in this predicament when they hit the working world.
I am right in the middle of my two parents. My mother LOVES to read and has turned our house into a literal library and my father LOVES to read...the sports page. I like to read but most times i have to be in the mood to read a book earnestly. So reading a book that i'm interested in can take a few hours, a whole day, or a few weeks depending on how i feel. So i kinda understand what u mean.
I never thought I would see the day I would willingly take up a book and read it cover to cover. I spent the majority of my life much like you. Lord knows how I passed literature without finishing any of the novels - I credit that to an excellent teacher. The thing that did it for me was finding a book that, from the very first lines, hooked me and I couldn't put it down. It also helps to just read till your tired, go do something else, and then go back. Get someone to give you the first Harry Potter. Only problem is you'll probably feel guilty that you reading that and not your work.
But trust me, if u can read through all the crap I just wrote... YOU can DO it! (make sure u got the accent and all going in that last line).
I cannot understand how you can read through and post so many blogs yourself and say you find it difficult to read.
You make a good point, Mel. I love to write, which is the ironic part. But reading blogs becomes quite a task for me, and especially now that the blog ring has increased in size and the number of posts produced per week shoots up. I don't read blogs as frequently as I use to, but I always get them read.
I'm very surprised that you like writing but not reading. They usually go hand in hand AND you do write well. What's your field anyway? actuarial? I'm thinking Maths.
Actuarial is correct. As is math... in fact, math may be more correct... Or maybe it's actuarial...
Don't sound so sure, do I?
i agree with rae, get the first harry potter book. it will make u want to read.
Post a Comment