Slow Reading
A quarter-year reflection
If you’ve been here reading since last year, you might have grown used to the end of month round-ups of books I’ve finished. And they’ve mostly disappeared this year. That’s because I’m succeeding in my goal of reading less. It’s such a counter-trend new year resolution, as a friend remarked to me recently. And, in theory, so easy to achieve!
Of course, simply reading less by itself is not particularly hard. You can just watch more tv or something (I have watched more tv this year). What I have been trying to do is read books more slowly. That’s the rationale, for example, of the slow series of posts on Crump’s book on prayer, or Smith’s book on Augustine. I’ve also been slowly reading Augustine’s Confessions as well as his 299 letters; Nazianzus’ Letter collection to. In fact, I’m really enjoying reading collections of letters this year. And there’s the slow read that is Crime and Punishment.
I’m also happier to pick up books, read them for a while, put them down; skim them for an overview and set them aside;
This does mean you get less one-off “here’s a book I read, a summary and some thoughts”, but I hope it’s a good trade for, “here’s a book I’m reading and some more detailed notes and reflections on a particular section.”
