Big Readers

In general, I don't read as much as I would like. I go on spurts at times and can plow through a set of books, but then I'll be bad and not read another book for months. Right after I got laid off from Merrill at the end of last April, I went on a big fantasy tear. I read the four Harry Potter and the seven Chronicles of Narnia plus one or two other non-fantasy pieces in rapid succession. When I'm not reading books, I still read, but somehow it doesn't quite seem the same. I might read 50 complete news stories in a day plus a handful of opinion pieces and scores of blog postings, but I don't have the sense of accomplishment of having devoured 100-150 pages of a book.

These folks put my reading habits to shame. They are some of America's biggest readers according to Book Magazine. I've known some prolific readers, but only one who I think could stand in this company. I worked with a guy at Merrill who read like these people read: a book or more a day, everyday. Kevin couldn't stop. He read a little of this and a little of that. He bought books twice because he had forgotten that he had already purchased and read them. He borrowed books from people and from the library, and he bought books from used book shops and big chain stores and internet retailers.

At some point though, I have to wonder when enough is too much amongst the bibliophiles. Reading the article, the readers frequently cite their lack of room for any more books, and the author makes mention of entire houses lined with tightly packed shelves. (Ok, ok. The author didn't put it that way exactly, but that's the vision that was left in my head.) Kevin used to complain about the fire hazard that was his basement. Apparently his lower level was packed with hundreds of boxes of various sizes all packed with books. I question at what point the hobby becomes an issue. How is reading alone for hours on end any different than sitting in front of the television for hours on end? "Books educate and inform," you say? "Well so do CNN and the Discovery Channel," I retort. Reading the profiles of the biggest readers, I couldn't help but imagine a group of social misfits: perhaps not so awkward as Dungeons and Dragons' dungeon masters but more maladroit than Trekkies.

Of course the socially challenged, overweight, unemployed, funny looking, goofy, blog author should probably not be throwing stones so near his own house.

Jonathan 3/16/2003 06:29:00 PM