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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Novels?

I love to read… But, when I read a novel I cannot think of anything else. I will stay up the entire night saying “just one more chapter, just one more chapter.” I will leave laundry in a heap and stay in my pajamas all day. While I love novels, I just cannot do it.

I have spent the last seven years in college; yes it took that long to get a five year degree. I have read countless textbooks, or pretended to anyway. Who could stay awake and read the history of economics? Not me. And now, I am a teacher whom is supposed to encourage a love of reading. The only problem: it’s supposed to be a healthy relationship with books. Mine is unhealthy. Mine is selfish and addictive. Mine is one-sided and obsessive. How do I solve this problem?

I read things similar to text books. Then, I have a purpose to my reading. I am not entertaining myself, I am learning, which by the way I find entertaining. I read cookbooks, cleaning books, parenting books, career development books. I find all of these things just as entertaining as novels. I find myself daydreaming about roasting a chicken or how to best teach rhyming to a student with a delay. While this type of reading takes up as much time as reading a novel, at the end of the day there is still a pile of unfolded laundry on the couch, but that roast chicken tastes define and I have another lesson plan in my teaching portfolio.

Now, I know that addicts can create elaborate excuses for their drugs. I just did that with my drug of choice: books. But, I think reading is a pretty healthy addiction, like good hygiene and perpetual kindness to others. I think that is more people had healthy addictions; less people would have the unhealthy kind.

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