ZapTown

I regret to report that I am still not through UNDER THE DOME. However, I’m getting closer. In the meantime, I had an interesting conversation that got me thinking about how I’ve changed as a reader, and seem to be slowing down as I get older. I was talking to a friend who asked if I was reading anything good, and I replied something along the lines of, ”Well, I’m reading UNDER THE DOME and it’s not bad so far, but I’m not sure where it’s going, and if I’ll like the ending or not.’ and they kind of coughed and asked how long it was. I said it was about as long as The Stand and they nodded, and said it had taken them a while to read that, and the conversation dropped into one of those awkward lulls where someone realizes the other person isn’t exactly a fan of the author/musician/whoever that is being talked up.

Anyway, after the conversation was over, I suddenly realized that I had read The Stand in about a week when I was a teenager, in one fevered burst of consumption. I’m also pretty sure I finished reading IT in about two weeks, maybe two and a half, and It has taken me twice as long to get two thirds of the way through UNDER THE DOME, which is comparable in length. The slow-down isn’t because I’m not enjoying myself, the book, as it is an engaging page-turner—the conclusion I’m left to come to is that I’ve slowed down as a reader. I’m sure I used to read much faster than I do—it might just be nostalgia, but I remember sitting down and getting through some books that I really enjoyed as a ten or eleven year old kid, in just a day or two. It’s not just that I have more to do as an adult—this is back when I had school, other activities, would be out running around the neighborhood—i had just as many distractions then as I do now, apart from the internet. I think that it simply takes me longer to process what’s on the page. I’m sort of curious as to whether or not this is something I should be worried about, as I’m only in my early thirties, and the list of books I’d like to read seems to grow longer, rather than shorter, every year. If I have an ever-increasing number of books to read, and it’s taking me steadily longer to finish each book that I do complete, something is going to have to give, and it’s not going to be pretty.

The worst part of this sneaking suspicion is that it doesn’t just apply to books I haven’t yet read—meaning that books I’ve already read, but would like to reread again, are even more likely to slow me down. For instance, i’ve been thinking about going back and rereading some of my favorite Philip K. Dick stories this Summer, and I’m kind of worried that I’ll get bogged down and won’t be able enjoy them as much. On the other hand, I could be blowing this all out of proportion, and it could just be that years of heavy internet use have simply damaged my ability to focus on the printed page in the way I used to be able to! At least I haven’t tired of my BLADE RUNNER DVD yet…..