Norwich Bookstore

Penny forwarded me a piece from the New York Times, “Why You Should Start Binge-Reading Right Now” by Ben Dolnick that I found both unsettling and comforting.

I have been concerned with my recent inability to “settle” with a book, but now understand that it has more to do with not carving out time to read than the array of writing in front of me. Ten minutes - or even a half hour - before bed is not enough time to get into the flow of a narrative.

After an evening’s power outage, Dolnick rediscovered the pleasures of reading for a longer stretch:“...in book after book, if you do push on through one chapter break, and then on through the chapter break after that, something amazing happens. Subplots that would once have been murky to the point of incomprehensibility (what was the deal with that dead sea captain again?) step into the light. Little jokes and echoes, separated by dozens or even hundreds of pages, come rustling out of the text forest.”

My ideal vacation is to settle in with a bag of books in a peaceful spot - in the summer by a lake or even on the back porch, in the winter in a cozy chair by the woodstove. And yes, binge-reading. My promise to myself is an hour of uninterrupted reading every day - a mini-vacation from daily tasks. Time to shut off the computer and open that book! - Liza

PS I encourage you to seek out the entire article - I cannot link it here because of the paper’s paywall.