Reading Deficit

I miss reading. For years reading was my singular pastime. Novels, short stories, poetry - the genre did not matter - the word on the page moved me to new worlds and kept my brain engaged.

As work grew busier and I began to read more professionally, my joy of reading began to diminish and I picked up fewer and fewer books for pleasure. I never really stopped buying books, but I have stopped reading them through and through. I read key passages, I scan, and sometimes I even use them in reference.

Periodically, I stack up the books in the order I imagine I will read them. The stacks sit around for a few weeks and then I find shelf space to put them away.

The fantasy returns from time to time, but the minutes in which to fulfill it seem fewer and fewer. I keep thinking the farther into my career I progress, the more freedom I would find to read, but the disillusionment grows progressively stronger.

Nevertheless, I purchased a Kindle a few months ago and the new gadget has turned me back to reading more than I have in a while. It is not quite the same as a book, but it is more handy than carrying the books and newspapers around - and my fingers do not turn black from the newsprint.

If this experiment in daily writing and the Kindle continues to inspire, perhaps I will force the time into my schedule for the written word.