What is 'reading' anyway?

Growing up, my mum used to read a lot. My step-dad did too. He went through probably dozens of books every year. She liked murder mysteries, I remember all the Agatha Christie books across the shelves and being fascinated by their titles and images when I was about 6. 

My Nan on the other hand, I don't think I ever saw read. Sure she'd read the paper (tabloid of course), sometimes the articles in a Reader's Digest or the TV guide that we'd have once in a while. 

I think if you were to ask the average person what being a reader meant, it's probably more what my parents were than my Nan. 

But obviously she did read, every day in fact. But most people wouldn't have considered her a reader.

Last year, I read a lot. In fact I had a few 'good years' where I read very regularly, hitting 20 or even 30+ books a year. I was hungry for it last year, reading the entire Dune series, loads of other sci-fi, but also Greek literature, philosophy, horrors, thrillers, I even made a tiny dent in books for my career, touching on some product and culture books.

This year? I've read one book. That I only managed to finish last weekend. Almost 9 months I've managed to read one.

I'm just not hungry for it. 

I don't think I'm unique either. I suspect a lot of people go through the same cycles, then the habit breaks or the season changes and all of a sudden you don't really want to read anymore. Then all of a sudden, you do.

There are of course those, like my wife, who always has a book on the go. 

Finishing that book (for those interested, it was The Blacktongue Thief) made me think about my reading habits. Why did I like reading so much last year, but not this year? What do you get from reading anyway? 

But you know, I do read a lot. Every single day. But not books. I spend a lot of my day reading, blogs, reddit, twitter, emails, articles and posts on various websites. 

Does that still make me a reader? If it does, why isn't everyone a reader? Maybe they are. But in our minds the idea of a reader is someone sitting in a comfy chair, with a hot drink, snuggled under a blanket in front of a fire reading their favourite for the umpteenth time.

Is there really a difference?

There's a few questions that keep coming to my mind, that led to this post.

Why do we read?

Is there such a thing as 'bad reading'?

The first one is easy. To learn, to escape, to be thrilled, to be scared, to be excited, to gossip. Reading is an 'active' activity, you have to read the words, process and understand them. It conjures images, voices and scenarios in your mind - it gets your brain working much more than listening to music or watching TV.

The second question, I think is a bit trickier.

There's additional context here too - my 6 year old daughter is now getting to the age where she's reading more and more, increasingly on her own and it's important that she forms some of those habits now.

My mother-in-law reads a lot too. She goes through books incredibly fast, to the point where sometimes I wonder if she actually read it or skimmed through it. Sometimes you can have a conversation with her about a book and she can't quite recall the names of characters or plot points. Part of that is age, but I think it's also a style. A lot of the books she reads, much like my wife's, aren't my preference either. Not quite Mills & Boon from the service station, but probably akin to watching a reality TV vs watching a documentary.

I don't mean to shit on that though, don't misunderstand me. That's also a choice and why the first question is so important. Sometimes reading is just about escape, to gossip, to explore new situations that you might not experience otherwise.

I think I'm answering my second question really, there is no such thing as 'bad reading' but there's certainly reading that's better than other reading. The latest celebrity gossip won't be as impactful to your life as reading Meditations, that's almost stating the obvious.

On the other hand, there's context to contend with. What do you need right now. I've tried to read books that are considered to be part of 'the greats' and not been able to get into it, let alone absorb it. It's like watching an old episode of your favourite show, rather than a documentary - sometimes you just need that in your life.

Like everything in life, I suppose it's about the right mix. A good friend of mine told me he always had a fiction and non-fiction book going at the same time, just to keep things balanced.

This has been a ramble of a post hasn't it. Maybe sometimes you need that too. I think I'm off to go read another book now.