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How I Became a Reader

Hearing a person say about a book, "I couldn't put it down," always left me with eye-roll and the retort in my mind: I never met a book I couldn't put down! That was, of course, due to, I imagine, an ADD mind so prone to distraction. I had a period when I was about 30 and found myself on the lam from adulthood in High Point with every evening after work alone in my apartment with no social life. The tormenting solitude I seemed to have sought afforded the stretches of time I could take a stab at reading library books beyond the minimal easy reads (Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men) when school assignments necessitated. I put away an impressive number of titles but absorbed very little.

Too many years later, I finally cobbled together the beginnings of a social life that included a monthly book club that lured me in with food, wine and conversation despite the reading requirement. This club was such a joy, I set about trying to become a better reader. I tried schemes like reading aloud, setting a 30 page a day goal, audio books. But simply reading at a pace--no matter how embarrassingly slow--that allowed me to stay attentive and actually process the writing won the day. 

I even joined a second book club offered by a new indie book store that had opened on Fifth Street. This required overcoming a good deal of trepidation as many of the members were quite a bit younger and studious minded. The selections were more challenging than the best sellers my other book club generally selected. Also we met at the store and it was not a food and wine social gathering in a friend's home. And we discussed the book intensely for the whole session! But the new group was friendly and welcoming and rising to the challenge was worth it. The book store closed after a short go at it but the club members had bonded and the store owner continued to coordinate it meeting in our homes. Most of them have become great personal acquaintances. 

In 2014, I started recording the number of books I would read per year. That year I read 13. Five years later I read 42. Now what keeps me reading is not just the book club assignments but the belief that reading makes me a better conversationalist and ambivert if nothing else and keeps my brain sharpened against aging.

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