Reading

This is only a quick break from science and the chemistry of cooking. But this month and the end of February has been an extremely tiring and stressful. With the start of Literature Circles, my homework load increased three fold. Literature circles are the newest installment of my English class curriculum. It utilizes small groups of two or three who read a particular text of no less than two hundred pages. The reading is to be completed in three weeks at one week intervals. I chose a partner who is a good friend of mine. Initially, we were undecided upon which book we were going to read. Another friend of ours in the class had no partner, but a book he was interested in reading. Soon the three of us obtained copies of Octavia E. BUTLER’s book Parable of the Talents.

Far beyond high school, I realized that the pace at which I read is far slower than the usual pacing of my peers. I rarely read books in my spare time, not that I truly have any spare time nor do I read for pleasure. At its most basic, the only time I read fiction works are for English-Language Arts class or other education.

Now in my hands, I hold a four hundred page book that I must complete in three weeks. Unfortunately, there was no time to reassign myself to another group or attempt to persuade both partners to switch titles. Four hundred pages – three weeks. My group decided to divide the book into even thirds based on the number of chapters. Luckily there were twenty one chapters and twenty one divides into three seven times evenly. Therefore it reasoned that twenty one chapters should be dispersed in three seven-chapter intervals. And thus it was set, seven chapters were to be read each week (if it isn’t obvious, that roughly can equate to one chapter per day). In Parable of the Talents, BUTLER writes approximately fifteen pages for each chapter…fifteen pages of reading each day. Yuck. I knew I should not have agreed to read this book of four hundred pages. I understand that many avid readers scoff at the idea of ‘only’ fifteen pages, which they could read in ten minutes. I am the complete opposite; I cannot read quickly, possibly five pages in a half-hour at most – depending on how dense the material is presented.

Anyhow, one week passes. I should be starting the second installment of my book. I should be starting chapter eight. I should be at page 135. But what have I accomplished in seven days? Almost nothing, absolutely nothing. The only time I spent reading was during class and lunch. My marker rests at page thirty. One hundred pages behind pace.

I decide it is time for a meeting with my English teacher. My English teacher (whose name shall remain undisclosed) and I shared a valuable conversation. We both learned something new about me and my reading. He told me to take a half-hour of reading time, and take notes on what thoughts are going through my mind, what distractions are around me, and what else is possibly hindering my reading pace. My teacher explains that the issue is less likely a problem with reading itself, but other aspects which may affect my reading. The notes I took gave a framework to build upon…