October is such a beautiful time of year, no matter where you live. Yesterday at sunset I went to my favorite spot on the island. It was just cool enough that I would have liked to have had a sweater. I could hear waves washing up on the beach, the cries of birds, the faint drone of a powerboat somewhere. The sky turned pink, then orange, then dark blue; the water was lit up like a firefly.
This time of year I leave for work in darkness, then find myself coming home too close to dinnertime. It just doesn't seem as though there are enough hours in the day to do everything. But this is my one and only life, so I seize a moment, or thirty minutes, and simply drink in the sunset or read a book only because I want to.
Do you ever feel like Sunday is a bittersweet day? You want to lounge around and luxuriate in indolence, but the guilt and ever-present awareness of chores and paperwork prevents you? Yeah, me too.
My reading is all over the place this week. I'm preparing lessons for my creative writing classes, getting ready to start a novel in my sophomore classes, and making a list of classics I want to read. Chris over at ProSe has me convinced to dive into The Illiad, and Judith at Reader in the Wilderness convinced me to begin Mary Sarton's The Small Room. I have a couple of reviews I need to write and post, and a few more books waiting for me to read and review. And I am drawing up a plan for deliberately reading more classics, and reading more deliberately. This isn't a race after all--there is nothing wrong with slow reading.
11 comments:
Slow reading is often the best kind. Fall is gorgeous here, too. I want to get out and enjoy it more.
http://laughingstars.net
Sometimes you are able to immerse yourself into the story more and actually absorb more of the author's writing when you take the time to read it slowly. Hope you have a great week....
I enjoy a slow read as well...it seems to me that's how many classics need to be read...very few of my students today really appreciate the beauty of the written word (I know that sounds corny)...they simply want to find the answers to the test questions and move on to the next assignment. Listening to audiobooks really reminded me to slow down...I sometimes find myself reading portions of the book books I'm reading aloud just to hear the words...isn't that silly?? I'm reading The Historian right now and I find myself frequently reading the descriptions of the cities and homes as well as new characters...just to enjoy the words. I certainly don't think all books are meant to be read that way though :)
Good luck with your novel - is it your first?
I've been trying really hard in the past few weeks to crank out chores and cleaning on Saturdays so that I can relax a bit on Sundays. But there is never any end to the things that need to be done and Monday looms over Sunday so it's always hard to relax completely.
I want to read a few more of the classics myself. If you ever plan a read-along, do let me know.
@Stephanie--you said it: slow reading is the best!
@Julie P--thanks for stopping by!
@Peppermint PhD--I see the same phenomenon in my high school students--only a few students are real readers...I guess I would feel the same way about math--just tell me what I need to do to pass this class!
@Amanda--my whole life I have told myself I would write a novel some day...maybe I should do it in November. Even if it is the worst novel in the universe!
@Lisa--the looming Monday really sucks all the fun out of Sunday, doesn't it?
@togoroman--I have a reading challenge in mind for the New Year, and it will be a classic author...
I love Sundays and Fall and I feel like they are kind of the same. I feel like something is coming, but it is a nice feeling. Great post. It made me feel wistful.
I'd love to hear what you have to say about the Iliad! (If you want to wait for a little while, I'd love to read it with you in January.)
Post a Comment