Booking Through Thursday

(Link at left)

Okay, so the other day, a friend was commenting on my monthly reading list and asked when I found the time to read. In the ensuing discussion, she described herself as a "goldilocks" when it comes to reading–she needs to have everything juuuuuust right to be able to focus. This caught my attention because, first, I thought that was a charming way of describing the condition, but, two, while we’ve talked about our reading habits, this is an interesting wrinkle. I’d never really thought about it that way.

So, this is my question to you–are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital-–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

No. I can read anything. Anywhere. OK, I need to be more focused for a science textbook, or for studying of any kind (and I do prefer quiet when I study, by the way), but as far as temperature and so forth...whatever.

Here are some places that I can say I've read: online (duh--but it counts and it happens at home, at work, in public, in silence, with noise everywhere...), in the living room (with and without TV/music/talking), while eating, while brushing my teeth and/or curling my hair, in bed, in hospitals (waiting rooms, patient rooms, and while being a patient), airports, airplanes, trains (not moving cars or buses--I get motion sick--but in parking lots and driveways while waiting for people), hotel lobbies, hotel rooms, the backyard, the front porch, meeting rooms, classrooms (hello!), the gym, while our train was being searched at a border crossing (Mongolia into Russia--Catch-22, and yes it was intentional, and no the guards didn't 'get it'), construction sites, libraries (shocking, eh?), while cooking (I'd read while doing dishes if I could figure out how to keep from ruining the item being read), the bathtub, in parks, in restaurants, in elevators, walking on the sidewalk (though not since I was pretty young)....

OK, so it'd be easier to list where I haven't ever read! :-)

There are times when I can't settle, can't focus, am easily distracted, but I blame that more on the material and my internal "temperature"--airports are bad just before they call for boarding, the gym is bad if people are talking about something I'm interested in, boring textbooks are just hard to read (so I 'read' with a highlighter, which helps a bit)....

I'm a gigantic geek.