Eta Carinae
I really loved that farm.
About a month ago, I started reading Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy". For those unfamiliar with the novel, it is a story of India in the 1950s, comprised of nearly 600,000 words on 1349 pages, making it no quick read. In that month, as engrossed as I have been, I have only read it during my long bus trips around town, meaning that so far I am not even a third of the way through the work. It's a fantastic book (and I recommend it to anyone who isn't deterred by the prospect of such a long commitment), but it's not what I want to discuss.
My habit of only reading books during bus rides is not only reserved for "A Suitable Boy", but for every novel I've read in the past year, outside of those for school. Naturally, this means I don't finish books very quickly, and I am often chided by my parents and friends because of it. A book my peers may read in 2 or 3 days usually takes me 2 weeks. It is not that I'm uninterested, or else I would have stopped with "A Suitable Boy". Neither is it that I am slow when it comes to the actual skill itself, as I routinely finish novels for school assignments faster than most of my classmates. It is simply because I prefer taking novels slow so as to draw out the experience, making it, in my mind, much more enjoyable. "A Suitable Boy" takes place over a period of 18 months, and while I don't plan to take that long to read it, having it last a while has helped me to immerse myself in the writing.
When I was younger I often blazed through novels as quickly as possible, spending much of my free-time at home on them. This worked fine, but for me it made books feel a bit more insignificant if I could finish them in a day. My mother utilizes this strategy, but I find it amusing that she has tried and failed to read "A Suitable Boy" three times.
So, my question for you is not "How fast do you read?", but "How long does it take you to read?" Do you try and finish books as quickly as possible, do you draw them out as much as you can, or does your method change depending on density of the book, or subject matter?
((Also, if this belongs in Miscellaneous Discussion, feel free to move it, I wasn't really sure))
My habit of only reading books during bus rides is not only reserved for "A Suitable Boy", but for every novel I've read in the past year, outside of those for school. Naturally, this means I don't finish books very quickly, and I am often chided by my parents and friends because of it. A book my peers may read in 2 or 3 days usually takes me 2 weeks. It is not that I'm uninterested, or else I would have stopped with "A Suitable Boy". Neither is it that I am slow when it comes to the actual skill itself, as I routinely finish novels for school assignments faster than most of my classmates. It is simply because I prefer taking novels slow so as to draw out the experience, making it, in my mind, much more enjoyable. "A Suitable Boy" takes place over a period of 18 months, and while I don't plan to take that long to read it, having it last a while has helped me to immerse myself in the writing.
When I was younger I often blazed through novels as quickly as possible, spending much of my free-time at home on them. This worked fine, but for me it made books feel a bit more insignificant if I could finish them in a day. My mother utilizes this strategy, but I find it amusing that she has tried and failed to read "A Suitable Boy" three times.
So, my question for you is not "How fast do you read?", but "How long does it take you to read?" Do you try and finish books as quickly as possible, do you draw them out as much as you can, or does your method change depending on density of the book, or subject matter?
((Also, if this belongs in Miscellaneous Discussion, feel free to move it, I wasn't really sure))
