Saturday, September 12: Mississippi Mud
SLOW MEN AT WORK
by John M. Floyd
In my title, I intentionally left out the dash that belongs after SLOW. I am, you see, one of those slow men — especially when I’m reading. But more about that in a minute.
A Little Backstory
The idea for this column occurred to me when I staggered in from doing some yard work the other afternoon, searched the house for my wife Carolyn, and found her cubbyholed in one of the back bedrooms, reading a book.
“How long till supper?” I asked her.
“A while,” she said, without looking up.
“How long is a while?”
This time she did look up. “I’m not sure. But it’s going to get longer every time you ask me.”
I’m not brilliant, but I’m smart enough to recognize a warning when I hear one. I decided a sandwich might not be a bad idea.
In the Isolation Booth
My wife, you see, doesn’t read as much as she’d like to. She’s one of those people who volunteers for just about everything, and when she’s not doing that she’s helping a neighbor or running errands for our kids or doing something else that needs doing, and reading usually gets postponed. But when she does open a book, she reads it the way people run marathons — she doesn’t stop along the way. (SLOW WOMEN AT WORK wouldn’t apply to her, while she’s reading.)
I myself read a lot, but I take my words in smaller doses. I might read some at lunch, some in the afternoon, and some late at night, but usually no more than a couple chapters at a time. I’ve just never been one to read for hours and hours on end. Maybe it’s in my DNA (or my cheap eyeglasses). Right now I’m reading Pat Conroy’s South of Broad, and my plan is to make it last awhile. I love just about everything about Conroy’s novels — they’re not mysteries but they’re good — and since the guy doesn’t come out with a book often, I want to prolong the experience. If Carolyn were the one reading it, she’d be done in a day or two, during which I would probably become more familiar with Swanson frozen dinners.
The Tortoise and the Hare
I think it’s interesting, the way different folks read books. I know people who read extremely slowly, and others who turn the pages so fast you can almost feel the breeze, and you wonder how they could possibly absorb what they’re reading. I’m convinced some folks don’t absorb it. They read novels the way I used to read IBM manuals, skipping over huge globs of text. To me, if you’re reading for pleasure, that’s like sleeping through parts of a movie, or digesting a Reader’s Digest condensed book. (Don’t even get me started, on that subject — there are few things I hold in lower regard than a “condensed” book.) The truth is, I’m a slow reader, and I think one reason for that is that I like to read every word. I don’t skip anything. If the book’s not interesting, I don’t skim over parts of it, I just throw it against the wall and find a different one.
I even know some people who, God help us, read the endings first. I don’t think I’ll say any more about that, since I can’t even fathom that kind of behavior. I’d rather eat a bucketful of sauerkraut, or mow my yard with a pair of scissors, or attend a ballet, than read the ending of a book before it should be read.
Multitasking and Other Talents
I have also been told by friends that they often read two or more novels at the same time. I believe them — but I can’t seem to do that. I can read a novel or a short story while I’m working on writing a story, or I can sometimes read a nonfiction book at the same time I’m reading fiction, but I can’t — or at least have never tried to — read two novels at once. I think I suffer from noncompartmentalizationitis.
Another interesting thing, to me, is that some folks tell me they like it quiet when they read, while others like to have music or the TV playing in the same room, or listen to the hum of conversations at a coffeeshop or the sounds of nature through an open window. Those preferences remind me of writers, and how they sometimes need certain background noise (or its absence) to be able to put their fiction on paper. I’m one of those people who prefers at least relative silence while I write but not necessarily while I read.
Q and A
What are your thoughts on this kind of thing? Are you a fast reader? Slow? Do you read in bed, or on the patio, on in a favorite chair, or in the bathtub? Do you require silence or music or certain background sounds? Do you prefer reading from a page or from a computer or Kindle screen? Ever skip parts of a story or a book? Ever throw one down in disgust? Ever read more than novel at the same time? Inquiring minds want to know.
I won’t even ask if you read the endings first.
You know, I agree with EVERYTHING you said here. I too am a slow reader, at least most of the time. I too prefer silence while I write, but not necessarily while I read. I too never skip parts of a book. Either I read it, or throw the damn thing out the window, but I don’t skip any parts of a book that I DO finish. And I too can’t, won’t, shan’t read two novels at the same time.
For me, there are two ways to read. (1) First readings (as a reader), for pleasure. And if a book is really good, I admit, I will DEVOUR it. I can’t help myself, and usually someone in my vicinity will comment on the breeze. Most Agatha Christie titles I hadn’t read before I finished within a single day, and some within a few hours, like MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, which I read in four hours (I had a whammer of a headache afterward, but I had become a fan for life). (2) Second and all subsequent readings (as a writer). My favorite books I read over and over, and on these occasions, I read very slowly, thoroughly, and analytically, enjoying and absorbing every word, sentence, paragraph, chapter. Agatha Christie novels I already know I tend to read spread out over a week or two . . . and you can’t get much slower than that, considering most have only 200 to 300 pages.
Oh, by the way, the sentence “I won’t even ask if you read the endings first” caught my eye and made me read the whole thing!
Good questions, John. I read for pleasure in my favorite chair. A bathtub? I suppose people do it.
Before I’ll buy a book by an unfamiliar writer I’ll check something at the library to see if I like the style, etc. Sad to say I finish about one in ten that way. I don’t care whether it’s noisy or not unless the sound is really annoying. I like a printed book, have never read anything on a kindle and hope to maintain my perfect record. If I like a book I don’t skip a thing, but as I said that’s about one in ten. If I’ve ever read two novels at the same time the occasion doesn’t leap to mind.
I’m sure it must be just me, but in recent years I’ve enjoyed books by British writers better than ones by most Americans. Most is the key word because I always enjoyed Hillerman and still like Lutz, Pronzini, Block’s Scudder books and Kaminsky’s about the Russian detective.I have just started one by S.J. Rozan and so far it’s great. The likes and dislikes probably have to do with age. I still love to re-read many of the old timers. I hate any cozy or those with a ridiculous amateur who solves crimes.
When I lived in Richmond, Ca. and worked in San Francisco, I rode the bus to my job in San Francisco. The half hour ride give me to time to read many books, fiction and nonfiction, but I had to read fast so I could stop at the end of a chapter or a section.
When I retired, my old eyes forced me to read slower, and now I sometimes read every word. Just as I did in my younger days, I still skip sometimes. If I skip too many passages, the book goes in the trash. I’m afraid of breaking something if I throw it against the wall.
I do not like reading from a computer screen. Aside from the eyestrain, I always feel as if I must hurry before the computer does something crazy, like crash, or maybe what I’m reading just disappears, which has happened, and I had no idea where it went.
I have only recently begun re-reading favorite novels/stories from long ago. The scary thing is that sometimes it almost seems I’m reading them for the first time. A sign of age . . .
A friend of mine told me she loves to read in the bathtub, but said she once dropped her book in the water. I suggested she not try that with a Kindle.
By nature I’m a slow reader. I can force myself to read quickly when necessary, but I tend to take it slow.
When I read I hear the words being spoken in my mind’s-ear. So unless I consciously force myself, I don’t read any faster than I would if I were reading aloud. I like to savor every word, every phrase. At the same time, I’m jealous of people who can read at a lightning pace without even thinking about it, and can retain every word.
I read very rapidly, but I don’t indulge in any shortcuts like scanning or skipping ahead. I also prefer to read in silence — as a former musician, I am prone to completely halt my reading when music is playing. To me, there’s really no such critter as “background” music — if it’s worth playing, it should be worth listening to. That’s why I also prefer to write without any kind of noise in the background — except for television. It’s easy to ignore television.
I am a slow reader, but I do read for hours and hours (when I can get the hours). I read in my recliner, in bed, with or without TV/radio on in the background. I usually read one novel at a time, but have been known to read two. I’ll read short stories while I have a novel going, and also nonfiction from time to time.
One interesting note – my wife has an uncanny talent for picking the precise moment I reach a climactic sequence in whatever I’m reading to begin a conversation. This is the only noise that really interrupts me ( and she rarely reads this blog, so i should be safe).
… my wife has an uncanny talent for picking the precise moment I reach a climactic sequence in whatever I’m reading to begin a conversation …
Mea culpa!
Well, I have to admit I have thrown a best seller across the room when I didn’t like the ending. I felt like the author had just decided he had written enough and ended it. It was a horrible ending for such a great book. I was not a happy camper, even though it was made into a well known movie. Still mad about it, years later. I guess that’s the hard part of being a writer and reading other writer’s work. And then there was the time I actually got up and walked over to the trash can and threw the $%^@ book away, because it was such a sorry excuse for a book. I will not name any names here, thankfully. I do not read more than one book at a time. However, I do like quiet when I’m reading AND when I’m writing. And I can’t imagine reading the ending first. I know there are some people who do that, but I would never. But when I get into a great book, I am known to stay up to ridiculous hours of the morning reading. And I’m about to start Pat Conroy’s latest, and can’t wait. He’s the most amazing writer of our time, in my humble opinion!
I threw one of my favorite books across the room—twice! The book? “The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov” when I finished two of his Black Widower mysteries and realized I should have figured out the solution before Henry did! As for where and when I read, just about anywhere! I drive a delivery truck and I have time before some of my customers get there to indulge in my passion!
(Oh, and for the record, one of the Asimov stories I mentioned is “The Three Numbers” also called “All In The Way You Read It.”)
Asimov taught me more about writing short stories than anyone. He was my first literary love.