Applying Cosmetics to Reading

I’m like one of those women who are by no means ugly, but by no means naturally beautiful either, who spend hours every morning in front of their mirrors applying remedies intended to persuade the general public that the first part of this statement is rock solidly true.

Only I’m not literally talking about my looks. I’m 34, as close to what I’ll ever be to an ‘avid reader’, and yet I still read at a snail’s pace. My remedies are not as foolproof as the average looking woman’s, but I try. I do best when reading in quiet places. And, I know it sounds strange, but if I try and read right after I’ve done a lot of exercise, my body is usually too amped up to let my mind concentrate. So, I’ve got to be bodily relaxed. A good stretch of time available for the job is another aid that I find indispensible. If I’m crunched for time, anxiety sets in and I end up worrying that I’ll never get anything read and I spend what little time I have revolving the same sentences in my mind with no comprehension. So, reading late at night seems to be my best tonic. Late at night is usually comparatively free of external sound stimuli, there are no pressing errands for me to do and I’m not likely to have just come home from the gym.

With all this careful tending to verbal understanding, you’d think I could boast Olympic Gold comprehension. This might have been true 10 or 15 years ago. Back then I could have boasted that although I read like a turtle, my comprehension was as tight as Fort Knox. Today not so much. Now my mind operates like an old wire sieve whose holes have started to rust and break in places, creating wider gaps that make it easier for large particles to drain through, and making the job of actually sieving something much slower. I read, I do it slowly, I enjoy it in the moment, and a few days or weeks later I forget.

However, this spring break I’m going to try my hand at reading three books in a week. Short books mind you, and an accomplishment created for the average adult’s lazy afternoon. None the less, I’m going to try and get these three books finished by next Sunday: Little Bee (266 pages and I’m already a 1/3rd of the way through), Morality for Beautiful Girls (227 pages [part of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series]) and Slaughter House Five (215 pages, recommended a while back by a friend and due back soon at the library). Wish me luck!

P.S. Here’s my favorite quote so far: “The little girls were wearing white party dresses and black party shoes, so strangers would know at once how nice they were.”