I’m struggling getting back into “serious” reading and feel like my physical posture and environment is hindering me.
I used to read a lot (have inhaled many a Brandon Sanderson books on release) but I can’t get into reading “hard” books. I read mainly in bed (with my kobo) but finding it tricky and I am turning into a hunchback. Audiobooks while cycling)/gym is great, but bit distracting for “hard” books.
How do ye do it?
- Do you have a fav chair (will accept pictures if you could share!) or environment (like a reading nook)?
- When and how do you make time to “digest” books?
- Do you take notes and if so, how?
- bonus question: what was a recent hard book that you enjoyed (and made you reframe stuff) and would recommend?
Thank you!
My answer is different depending on if it’s fiction or non.
Also context I’m in academia which means I read constantly for work. This sadly means though that I don’t read much fiction or for fun. I do try and mediate that by reading poetry since they’re short !
But when I do read for fun I tend to read before going to bed so I’m laying down in bed.
For non fiction I will read lots of places. And I pretty much can’t digest the information unless I’m able to highlight and annotate what I’m reading. I try to read non fiction that is relevant to my research not before bed so as to retain the information a bit better.
Reading while taking a bath is nice !
Ooh haven’t taken a bath in years! Pray the book isn’t too interesting otherwise you’ll prune into old age.
Thanks for the input! If I may ask, where exactly do you do your academic reading? On your desk? And how do you make time/ritual for it?
Usually at a coffee shop. But I will also read at my home desk, at my office desk, in the bathtub haha, and sometimes outside on my porch.
The ritual thing is tricky for me because I’m kind of forced to make it routine. But I will say that you may want to think about when is your most alert focused time of the day. I try and force myself to start work as close to 930 as possible and have learned that I max out at deep focusing for reading and writing after like 2 - 3 hrs.
If I’m really not feeling it sometimes I’ll just put a timer on and tell myself I’ll just read even for five minutes! Five min is Better than no reading !
My biggest dilemma is that I have chronic pain issues in my neck and can’t figure out how to hold the book properly to not exacerbate my neck pain! Haven’t figured that one out.t hough