An Experiment in Reading

I have begun an experiment. Years ago, I used to think that my habit of reading many books at one time was due to my lack of self-control. Then I decided: No, this is just what I like doing—I like to read different books at a time—who says that you have to read only one book at a time? Two months ago I concluded I was right in the beginning: It is a lack of self-control. At least, for me it is. Let me provide the prompt for this change, and some clarification.

Books Took Forever to Finish

I was reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, which I think took me about seven months to finish. Because of this, important references to details earlier in the story, which I only vaguely recalled, did not leave the impression on me that they should have. I had to go back to recall certain events and persons and chronologies. This annoyed me, and I began to make my resolution. I reasoned that, just as short stories were not designed to be read over a period of weeks (in a good short story, there are often many important details and patterns, because every word is of greater value for its scarcity), so also novels were not meant to be read over a period of months and months (unless, perhaps, they are extremely long). I thought of how I, as a writer, would feel if it took so long for a friend to read my work. Personal feelings of pride aside, I think I would feel that the impact of my work were lessened by this. 

How We Spend Our Free Time

I also began around the same time to cut out distractions and allow more time to think. For Advent, I did not read or watch or listen to anything during breakfast or lunch. I spend much less time on Youtube (there’s really only one youtuber, Pilgrims Pass, whom I watch now, and he doesn’t post often). I do not use my phone before breakfast ends or after supper begins. I spend more time thinking and walking and thinking, and less time just consuming. As Sherlock Holmes put it, your mind is an attic, and can hold only so much. Moreover, life isn’t about accumulating, even accumulating knowledge or experience. Truth is to be contemplated, not possessed; understood, not comprehended. We learn not from experience, but by reflecting on our experiences. 

Proposal & Rules

And so I decided to finish every book that I was reading, and for the months of February and March to read only one book at a time. In addition to the aforementioned reasons, a goal of mine was to make of it an experiment and see if I focused better on what I was reading, and spent more time thinking on it, and enjoyed it more. 

In case you are wondering, or would like to try something similar on your own, here are the rules outlined, with some of the fruits I have already seen. Lent approaches, and I think herein are some ideas that may benefit others for suggestions or prompts (including the above mentions of technology and media). 

1. Read only one book at a time. This may be a novel or a nonfiction book. 
2. For every new book I read, I must read one old book. The definition of “old” shall be that virtually no one alive can recall when it was published. So essentially it must have been published before around 1934. 
3. Essays, short stories, plays, and poetry do not count. Obviously collections of these also don’t count. 
4. I have been reading manga (rereading Deathnote and reading Demon Slayer), and these have their own rule: I can only read one when I have finished a book or short story. If I read a very short short story, that usually doesn’t count. 
5. Books read for meditation do not count. But for me, I usually don’t go through an entire book for meditation. Lately I’ve been reading Josef Pieper’s The Four Cardinal Virtues, but technically this is a collection of essays.
6. The works listed in items 3, 4, and 5 above can be read alongside the “main” book I am reading. 

The Story So Far

The fruits of this experiment so far are as follows. I’ll post an update eventually. 

1. I am reading more short stories, because I don’t always feel like reading the main book I’m on, but I can’t just start a new book. I think this is a good thing, since I haven’t read a lot of short stories and many are great. It’s also fun to be able to experience authors I have heard of, but don’t currently feel inclined to read a whole book by them (e.g. Stephen Crane), and to experience authors I’ve never heard of (since I have an old collection of famous short stories I inherited from my grandfather). 
2. I have been spending more time thinking about what I read. Sometimes I just think while I eat, instead of reading. 
3. Probably in large part due to the other life changes regarding time management and technology, I feel more at peace and more focused. I more easily relate the things I have been reading about, since they are but a few: a short story, manga, and whatever book I’m on. 
4. I feel more satisfied (and at peace) with how I spend my time. Firstly because it is intentional and I only pick something that is both good and interesting to me. Secondly because I progress faster through works, finish them sooner, and I receive the work of art more as a whole, since it doesn’t take as long to read. 

A final note: I decided not to update my Goodreads with what I’m currently reading, since I know I read enough (I don’t need a reading challenge), and who needs to know what I’m reading or how long it takes me? These short story collections will take time, anyhow. Why would I read an entire short story collection like I read a novel? It is fun to see what others are reading, however, and see what they thought of it, so I do still update my Goodreads when I’ve finished a book.