Reading to the End

My writing life is impacting my reading habits - and my TBR list may be getting out of control.

Have you ever wondered if you’ll live long enough to read all the books you want, much less visit all the places you desire and have all the experiences you wish? As I continue to buy book after book in this latest expansion of my literary life, I’m wondering how I’ll get them all read.

For a writer, I think I’m a bit of a slow reader. It could be that my pace has to do with me being distracted sometimes by the actual words an author uses. I have a folder on my phone where I save my Google searches of new words I learn while reading. I’m also waylaid in reading sometimes when I come across phrasing I like. The worst is when I let too much time pass between reading sessions and need to reread parts of a book to understand where I am in the story, what is happening with the characters, and how they are related to each other.

At a fun book club event the other day, I was a bit jealous of a woman who could read a book in a day. I had to ask her about her method. She’s a speed reader, quickly reading paragraphs at a time. She reminded me of my close friend Vanessa Lipske, who became my business partner when I was first transitioning from journalism to public relations. We would have just celebrated her birthday on Feb. 1 - I miss her so. Vanessa and I started out as book publicists when we combined our agencies to create PowerFlow Media because we both loved literature. She could read a book in an evening and share an entertaining and comprehensive synopsis the very next day. I still marvel at her ability.

I only remember one book that I read in a day, “Push” by Sapphire. I was living in Brooklyn at the time and working in Manhattan as a reporter at Fortune magazine, my first job out of college. I remember starting to read “Push” on the train to work. I was so engrossed that I went to my office and immediately closed the door, planning to read for maybe another 30 minutes or so as I was eating my breakfast at my desk. Two hours later, I’d been ignoring phone calls and delaying responsibilities because “Push” had my full attention. I remember deciding that I should just go home and finish it because I was obviously not going to get any work done that day. And that’s just what I did. I brought the book back to work the next day and gave it to a colleague after sharing my excited review. And I believe she finished it in a day or two herself.

Those were some great years when I had time to read books, magazines and newspapers for hours and hours in one sitting. In my early years of parenting, I couldn’t finish reading a whole book often or quickly. And for the last few years, as I was helping my high schooler into college, I’ve been mostly listening to audio books. But now that I have more time and I’m reading for writing, I am buying more physical books again - and so many of them. They are piling up in lovely ways on my nightstands and my kitchen table where I work remotely. So, all day they taunt me to open them and fall deeply into their stories.

I’ve found myself watching a lot less television than when my daughter first left for college in the fall. I think that’s because I’m writing regularly and books are better to me now that I can pay closer attention to them, and there are no long breaks where I’ve felt life forcing me to put them down before I finished them. And when I do watch television, I only spend time on the shows and movies I feel are well written. I find that I’ll stop watching right in the middle of an episode or a movie if I don’t feel the characters or the stories are well developed by whatever my own standards are.

Even my approach to social media has changed pretty dramatically since the fall. Across all my platforms, I’ve recently followed hundreds of writers, authors, publishers, editors, agents, literary nonprofits, book clubs, publicists, influencers and people who love books and writing. Now I’ve always been a writer - since I was in my teens - so my social feeds were always filled with creatives. But I can feel myself being more intentional about following people who are serious about their literary lives. The infusion of new voices in my social spaces has transformed the algorithms that feed me more of what I’m interested in now and what will be helpful to me as I continue to deepen my engagement with creative writing. What’s even more exciting is that some of these new folks I’m following are responding to me and we’re able to be in conversation about our literary lives. I’m grateful when that happens.

Because of the style of the novel I’m working on (and the heavy times we’re living in), I’m more interested in reading satire and witty fare that is also meaningful. I am buying other types of books as well because I want to read them one day when it’s the right time and I’m in the right mood. Some are by authors I’ve personally known for years (Big congratulations on Written in the Waters, Tara Roberts!!!) and others are by those I admire. And even though I’ve pared down my home library, which once held thousands of books, there are still probably a hundred that I haven’t read. So, I guess I will let the new books keep stacking up in attractive piles around my home. And I’ll double down on improving my wellness habits to live long enough and well enough to read them all.