{"id":16306,"date":"2016-01-22T13:20:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T21:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/?p=16306"},"modified":"2016-01-25T12:40:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T20:40:00","slug":"read-more-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/?p=16306","title":{"rendered":"Read More Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

reposted with love and dignity from \u00a0Adequateman<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>by Samer Kalaf<\/span><\/p>\n

\"American<\/a>

American actor Joan Crawford (1904 – 1977) sits on a sofa, reading a book with her pet poodle, 1940s. (Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

What was the last actual, physical book you read? If you\u2019re struggling for an answer, please keep reading. (Note: This does not count as a book.)<\/p>\n

Screens can be irritating. I stare at one\u2014sometimes even two\u2014all day for work, and my eyes burn by the end of the day if I don\u2019t take breaks. The fact that I occasionally hurt my eyes due to prolonged focus on words and GIFs makes me feel terrible about myself, and I feel even more guilty when I go straight home and watch TV. That just means I\u2019ve spent a whole day staring at different bright squares. To balance this out, I\u2019ve decided to make an effort to read books after work instead. My informal goal is to finish 12 books this year. If that number seems laughable to you, maybe you should read this book next, genius.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To be clear, I do read. I read every day\u2014news articles and other assorted features online. But they\u2019re on a screen. A book, however, is not on a screen. There\u2019s no obnoxious, ornamental longform format that makes it feel like you\u2019re scrolling in place until the next panel shows up. Get that mess out of here. Give me physical pages, and photos in the middle of the book, if appropriate. I accept that I\u2019m channeling the ghost of Andy Rooney.<\/p>\n

Try it out. If moving at a pace of one book a month is too much, set the bar lower. If it\u2019s child\u2019s play, aim higher. The length of the book doesn\u2019t matter, as long as it\u2019s a book, and you\u2019re reading it.<\/p>\n

The book choices are the easy, fun part\u2014just find topics that interest you. I prefer non-fiction sports books, but I\u2019m trying to mix up my reading list; the majority will be non-fiction, but not exclusively sports. I\u2019ve recently read Undisputed Truth by Mike Tyson (which was 100 pages too long but still okay) and George Plimpton\u2019s Paper Lion (with a cameo from then-Lions safety Dick LeBeau), and I\u2019m currently reading Julia Scheeres\u2019s A Thousand Lives. (It\u2019s about this place called Jonestown\u2014no spoilers!) I don\u2019t have all 12 picked out, but I\u2019m using friends\u2019 suggestions and the internet to find candidates. You have friends and the internet, too. Use them. Then, get off the internet.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t check your phone every three pages, either.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like carrying around books, you whine. Get one of those e-readers that supposedly doesn\u2019t strain your eyes as much, then. But I don\u2019t have time. I have to drive a long distance for work. This is supposed to be an after-work activity, but if you\u2019re going to split hairs like this, audiobooks are fine. That\u2019s not my thing, but go wild. Podcasts are not books, however. There\u2019s a difference.<\/p>\n

If this challenge seems overwhelming, simplify it. Start with one book. Finish it. Find another book. Read it to completion. Continue this process at your own pace, forever.<\/p>\n

Oh, and get a good bookmark. I use game ticket stubs.<\/p>\n

Photo of Joan Crawford reading a book: Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

reposted with love and dignity from \u00a0Adequateman\u00a0by Samer Kalaf What was the last actual, physical book you read? If you\u2019re struggling for an answer, please keep reading. (Note: This does not count as a book.) Screens can be irritating. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16306"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16315,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16306\/revisions\/16315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}