I miss summer vacation already. It's not that I don't enjoy being in class or the university scene that I come back to every fall. The reason is that I miss reading. Does this happen to you? Do you ever feel that, with so much to read in school that you never get any reading done? This is something I've been feeling for the last couple of years. Of course, we actually have a truckload of reading, but even though I enjoy a lot of it, it isn't the same as sitting down with a book or magazine or newspaper and just reading for the simple pleasure of a story. That is what I miss.
Every summer I knock a few books off of my "to-read" list. I get busy with summertime activities too, but I'm always more than willing to devote some time to my books as well. Now that I'm back in school, I find it very hard to find time for personal reading. I've got 60 or 70 pages left in The Road and a handful of half-read books that will probably sit until Christmas break simply because I usually spend my free time doing homework or with my daughter. The problem is that during these next few months I will add several books to my list, falling further behind. In fact, today I added a new one: My Name is Asher Lev, a story about a boy who has to deal with the conflicts of his passion for creating art and his strict, traditional religion. I just don't know when I'll get to it.
You may think it sounds funny--an English major who feels like he never reads--but I bet that most English majors you talk to will tell you the same thing. It's the irony of being an English major.
You read, but you don't really read. That's what I think is the irony of being an English major/teacher. I was just serving cake at a reception with some sisters from my ward while they discussed books they were reading/had read recently. One of them turned to me and said, "Debbie, you're an English teacher. What have you read recently?" I couldn't think of a single title I could recommend! I read! But I read a lot for my work (does she want to read Summarization in Any Subject? How about Writing Assessment and the Revolution in Digital Texts and Technologies? I try to sneak a few minutes of personal/for fun reading in sometimes, but it doesn't happen with enough regularity during the school year for me to be able to recommend books for other readers. Sad, isn't it?
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