Habits and variations

[013] ... [General], [Reading]

There was a time when I would read a book per week, carrying to work, managing to move forward on the way to and back from work (sometimes even at work as a diversion when stuck with an idea or a problem). Otherwise adept to reading in my own language, short stories, magazines, the habit of reading English books started at school, probably beginning with Enid Blyton, inspired perhaps by my classmates who were into it and discussing during the lunch hour. May be I should thank them. The habit continued to Ludlum, Forsyth, Sheldon, Wallace, Archer and many more.

There are ways of reading of course; some just flip through speedily just to catch up with the story, and some like us do it a bit more carefully, absorbing new words, how the sentence got formed, the author's way of putting it, punctuations and such, specially when the writing is delightful. May be it's like eating chocolate, you either just chew it off or enjoy the moments.

Somehow the habit kind of waned, virtually getting extinct for a long period, may be due to workload and other hassles, but always probed my conscious. A few years back I made it a point to get back, starting with Oliver Twist, a bit difficult as it seemed at first in comparison to the earlier days of focus, luckily I got into the groove in a short while and moved on.

With the PC becoming a part of routine, I also fiddled with reading on the large screen. Microsoft Reader was a favored choice that came close to the physical in display. But somehow, it looked tedious, sitting straight backed for long, and bending to tap the right-arrow or the mouse-click to page-down. With the printed book, you can do it sitting or lying down wherever and feel at ease.

Thankfully, the smartphone has made it easier and enjoyable reading e-books like the printed counterpart. The only drawback being the weekly report by the phone that nags to say graphically on you having spent more time than the last week, with the e-book reader among the top-used apps. Come on, there must be a way to remove apps of your choice that don't count towards the daily screen time. Or may be it doesn't really appreciate reading not being a task, but a pleasure...