The Reading Race
Now that I am home for the Christmas holidays I finally have time to do something I love - Read.
Sometimes it's great just to sit back, relax and unwind with a good book. The last time I was home I took a look at my bookshelf and realised I had at least 12 books that I had bought but never read. If you take a peek at my kindle there is countless on there that are also sat abandoned or half read.
If you follow many bloggers or vloggers you make have heard of the 50 book reading challenge. The idea is that in a year you read 50 books, pretty simple. So at the start of this year I picked up a book and set to work on the challenge. By the end of January I had read 3 books. I'm sat here now in December having read a grand total of 6 books. 6 books in a whole year.
I'm not disappointed that I didn't complete the challenge because to be honest I don't think I took it seriously. It did teach me something. When I haven't read for a long time I read so slowly.
In English at school the class would sometimes be told to sit and read a certain amount of pages. When we were done we would close our books and look up so the teacher knew we were ready. I was never the first to finish but I was also never the last. If I had to do that now I can guarantee I would be last.
The thing is there is no shame in being a slow reader! However I have found over the years that some people treat reading like a race. The faster you are the better. Here is a list of the reading racers I have met:-
The turtles
The turtles read,as the name suggests, slowly. They take their time with their books and don't feel the need to rush. They aren't skim readers and instead mull over every word in a sentence. A bonus to being a turtle is that you never need to take more than a couple of books for a holiday as you are unlikely to finish them.
The hares
These readers act like the hare in Aesop's fable. They read rapidly in short bursts before taking long breaks. They might read 200 pages of a book in a few short hours but they're unlikely to have finished that book by the end of the week. Often they wear themselves out with reading or just forget about the book entirely.
The speed readers
This particular set can be split into two:-
1. The in your facers
We've all met one of these at some point. They take any opportunity to point out how much faster than you they are at reading. That book that took you 3 days to read? They finished it in 2 hours. How on earth did it take you a whole 3 days! Ask them what happened in that book though and watch as they crumble. They can't remember. An in your facer may have finished it quickly but its unlikely that they took much in.
2. The bottomless pit
The final group of racers. These people are fast readers out of habit. Their hunger for books is endless and no matter how many they read it is never enough. Give them a good book and it is done within the day. Even if you give them a bad book it will still be finished before you bat an eyelid. Reading is like breathing to these people. They don't have the energy to gloat about how fast they are because they are using it all to finish that new thriller they just bought.
At the moment I find myself racing for the turtles.
What type of reader are you?
Will you be winning the reading race?
Take care,
Sophie
Sometimes it's great just to sit back, relax and unwind with a good book. The last time I was home I took a look at my bookshelf and realised I had at least 12 books that I had bought but never read. If you take a peek at my kindle there is countless on there that are also sat abandoned or half read.
If you follow many bloggers or vloggers you make have heard of the 50 book reading challenge. The idea is that in a year you read 50 books, pretty simple. So at the start of this year I picked up a book and set to work on the challenge. By the end of January I had read 3 books. I'm sat here now in December having read a grand total of 6 books. 6 books in a whole year.
I'm not disappointed that I didn't complete the challenge because to be honest I don't think I took it seriously. It did teach me something. When I haven't read for a long time I read so slowly.
In English at school the class would sometimes be told to sit and read a certain amount of pages. When we were done we would close our books and look up so the teacher knew we were ready. I was never the first to finish but I was also never the last. If I had to do that now I can guarantee I would be last.
The thing is there is no shame in being a slow reader! However I have found over the years that some people treat reading like a race. The faster you are the better. Here is a list of the reading racers I have met:-
The turtles
The turtles read,as the name suggests, slowly. They take their time with their books and don't feel the need to rush. They aren't skim readers and instead mull over every word in a sentence. A bonus to being a turtle is that you never need to take more than a couple of books for a holiday as you are unlikely to finish them.
The hares
These readers act like the hare in Aesop's fable. They read rapidly in short bursts before taking long breaks. They might read 200 pages of a book in a few short hours but they're unlikely to have finished that book by the end of the week. Often they wear themselves out with reading or just forget about the book entirely.
The speed readers
This particular set can be split into two:-
1. The in your facers
We've all met one of these at some point. They take any opportunity to point out how much faster than you they are at reading. That book that took you 3 days to read? They finished it in 2 hours. How on earth did it take you a whole 3 days! Ask them what happened in that book though and watch as they crumble. They can't remember. An in your facer may have finished it quickly but its unlikely that they took much in.
2. The bottomless pit
The final group of racers. These people are fast readers out of habit. Their hunger for books is endless and no matter how many they read it is never enough. Give them a good book and it is done within the day. Even if you give them a bad book it will still be finished before you bat an eyelid. Reading is like breathing to these people. They don't have the energy to gloat about how fast they are because they are using it all to finish that new thriller they just bought.
At the moment I find myself racing for the turtles.
What type of reader are you?
Will you be winning the reading race?
Take care,
Sophie
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