I originally wanted to put this out a bit earlier in November, but stuff happens so it’s here now! So here we are on Friday the 13th instead. 😅
Something I’ve always wanted to talk about has been reading. This isn’t a particularly ground breaking topic by any means, but I think it’s something that is important to occassionally look at. Especially in 2020, where anxiety and stress is a constant companion to many, reading can be both easy to do and difficult for those exact reasons.
What I’m reading has shifted year by year. This year I’m reading lots of newsletters by other freelance writers and journalists, long narrative pieces, and short fiction. I’ve muddled my way through a few novels like Normal People by Sally Rooney and I’m currently listening to the audiobook for The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.
And personally, I know that I’ve been reading a ton this year. But it also feels like I’ve spent a lot of time not wanting to read either. I’ll sometimes sit down to read my most recent collection of newsletters or with the idea to read a few more chapters in my current book (Can’t Even: How Millenials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen), and then just get hit with this overwhelming feeling of not wanting to read anything at all.
This has led to things being left unread for days or to my current book just sitting on my bedside table, kind of just staring at me until I finally feel like reading it once more. I could look up ways to read even when I don’t feel like reading, but that’s not something I’m really about.
Whether it’s 2020 being 2020 or leftover burnout from university or me just losing interest after reading and writing all day for a living, it’s something I’m slowly working on! If I’ve lost interest in reading, I’ll usually revisit whatever I originally wanted to get into later on that day or give it a couple days. This has mostly worked well and it’s been a good habit to kind of get into.
Pages:
Apart from my own reading experiences this year, I also got the chance to talk to two others about they’ve been reading, if they’ve been reading more or less, and what reading has been for them during 2020.
Amanda, a pediatric physical therapist, and Devin, a writer and editor, both had plenty to share about their reading habits this year! From doomscrolling the New York Times (a term you’re probably familiar with that has really become well-known thanks to Karen Ho, finance + economics reporter for Quartz) to reading to keep the brain sharp, there's plenty that both Amanda and Devin have found in reading this year.
Answers have been edited lightly for length/clarity of reading.
Paige: What have you been reading this year? Whether you've found yourself reading a specific genre or author, more news or more novels, what has reading looked like for you?
Amanda: I have been trying to escape into new books this year. Previously I have had a hard time reading new books, rather I would re-read old series and this year I have read more new books than previously. I have been reading a lot of suspense thrillers, mystery novels, and YA fiction books. I am avoiding the news like the plague (or COVID) haha.
Devin: I doomscroll NYT daily, though I kinda makes me feel terrible. I've usually got a book going (about 50/50 ARCs & std. material), and on the weekends I'll do a magazine longread or novella. As an editor, I'm also working with writers' pieces on-and-off in my spare time, which is a more engaged type of reading.
P: Have you found yourself reading more during quarantine, reading less, or about the same? And why do you think you've read the amount you have, no matter if it's more or less? Has reading been difficult for you or has it seemed easier to do?
A: I’ve utilized the online library loans and Amazon Prime Unlimited like nobodies business. However during the times when COVID has increased in our area, my reading levels have gone down because after being on Telehealth all day, my brain is just fried.
D: Before working at a book store, I read less & each book felt like a Capital-C-Commitment. But now, being around an endless river of writing, I regularly try out & put down books; and as the Quarantine pressed on, this habbit became more pronounced. The Quarantine has also changed the kinds of emotional spaces which I am able to inhabit for extended periods via reading. For example, Don DeLillo's novellas "The Body Artist" and "Point Omega" are some of my favorite works of fiction, but his new one "The Silence" put me in a terrible headspace bc of its quasi-apocalyptic setting. I just didn't want to *be there* -- even for only like 100 pages.
P: Have you found reading to be an escape or a form of catharsis at all or has it become something you're not doing?
A: Reading has always been my escape and when things get stressful, its part of my mindfulness routine. Avoid social media and read a book to help relax, even if the book is stressful and intense haha.
D: I've definitely been reading more escapist fiction than usual. Before, when I needed some bubblegum lit, I usually gravitated toward B-to-C-grade midcentury SF pulps... but now I've been digging HEA romances. Romances provide, beneath quick, kicky syntax, deep examinations of how people encounter and then -- this is the important part -- SOLVE problems. The implicit message of HEA is that good outcomes, positive changes are possible, even in bleak-seeming situations.
P: It's been a super stressful year, so what has reading overall been for you this year?
A: My reading is also a way for me to keep my brain sharp and in a time where we are stuck indoors and more likely to be glued to our phones or computers or televisions, I really am pushing myself to read a book and help keep my brain sharp
D: It's been a way to enact (safely & responsibly!) personal agency in an otherwise out-of-control year. When so much is restricted, so many things unavailable, choosing what & who to read has become an increasingly fortifying act.
After talking with Amanda and Devin, I’ve found it really interesting to see how people are approaching reading this year. How has reading for you changed this year?
Coffee:
How the ballpoint pen changed writing forever.
How one fan recut the entire Hobbit trilogy. (As someone whose a huge fan of seeing fan cuts of movies, I found this little deep dive into why and how they edited the films the way they did to be so interesting!)