Reading, Musing

Some books take me a while to read. Naturally, those would be the longer and denser ones. I presently have a real logjam in my reading material, and partly to blame was a collection of Hemingway's short stories. After some nine weeks, I finally finished the bunch of them, and began getting to some things that had piled up in the meantime. There was "Car", by Harry Crews. That was a quick read, although dense enough to slow me down a bit.

Immediately after that was the longer but easier "Hunger Games". It's interesting when a young adults title will achieve mainstream success. I've read the last few to manage this, and it's fun to zip through their simple prose after wading through some difficult book for adults. I don't mean to knock the books for younger readers, because I like them enough to read them and finish them, but they are no challenge, that's for sure. It's just that it's like running with rocks in my pockets and then dumping them out to run some more.

There's something else that makes me go through them fast, I ought to say. There's a window of a few days when I first have a book that I am very enthusiastic. It comes just from switching material, from getting away from a book that had been long in my possession to something new. During that window, I am very motivated and read prodigiously. After that, I slow down. This continues until the window opens again during the few days before the book is due.

The next few slots are spoken for by a pile of magazines, a self-help book and "Wicked", so I'll just have to see what I wind up with after that in terms of reading difficulty. I think I want some non-fiction, so it's apt to be a little tough, but just how tough remains to be seen. I'm getting a respite now, but the stuff coming up is tougher, and so I may have to try finding something fairly easy. Some Hunter S. Thompson might be just the thing.