The Chrysalis

I haven’t read much for about a year and a half now. It’s weird and it’s sad, but it’s true.

There was a time when I read one book after another. Most of them were novels, but I also read biographies, memoirs, and self-help books. Despite the rain or snow, I brought a book in my bag and read it during the bus ride or the train ride to work or school and back. If it didn’t rain or snow, I would even read while walking home from the bus stop.

Now it takes me months to finish a book. For example, I read the entire The Dark Tower series in nine months. I finished The Shining in about half that time.

I just don’t have the time and the energy to read anymore. My bus ride these days is a little too short to get some reading done. (It’s one of the reasons I miss working in Burnaby/Vancouver.) If I weren’t watching TV or a movie at home, I would work on bids or doing some other stuff. Most of the time, I did both. iPod Touch games also keep me from reading (among other activities like writing and sleeping); Wedding Dash and Virtual Families are great time-wasters. 

But now I’m starting to read books again. I just finished Stephen King’s short story collection Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales. Thank God for the iBooks app on the iPhone/iPod Touch. I can read a book on my lunch break, while eating dinner, or while waiting for the bus (if it’s not raining or snowing) for about the same price as a paperback or mass market paperback edition of the same book.

I will also try (operative word: try) to turn off the TV except between 8 to 11 PM and read - or write - instead. Besides I have to reread The Hobbit in time for the release of the movie (part 1).