Insomniac's blog

After reading some more of the textbook by Wilhelm, I think I have a clearer understanding of literary reading. I thought about the moves I make when I read and about certain books that I have read and what I did when I read those books. I think literary reading changes depending on what book you read. For example, when I read Notes From Underground over Christmas, I really had to think more. I kept a pencil handy and underlined passages and words that I did not understand. Along with that came my dictionary to look up words. I learned what pedantic means during that reading. Also, I read the footnotes to gain a clearer idea of what Dostoevsky meant and the time frame in which he was writing. Those footnotes were extremely helpful and added more to my visualization of the story.
I am not a re-reader for the most part. Unless a novel or story is assigned in a class and I have read it before, I usually do not re-read. I think it is because I have more of a photographic memory when I read. If someone were to ask me where a certain line or situation is in the book, even months later, I can usually open the book and flip to within a few pages of it. I also tend to paint a picture in my head while I read and I find that when I have to re-read that picture is hard to distort and I do not like to do it. My daughter, Myah, is an avid re-reader. If you have not checked out Myah's recommendations on the left, please do. She was excited to help me with these. Like I said, Myah is a big re-reader. She's read Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot 32 times! I think it is because she knows the story almost by heart now and she finds some comfort in the characters. I think she has become emotionally attached to them and can live their lives over every time she reads that book.
As far as imaging goes, I guess I am a little weird. If the novel or story is set in modern times, I usually see it in color. But, if the story is set back in history (usually over 100 years or so), I see it in like a sepia color. Perhaps this is the influence of television and movies in my life, I'm not sure. I do get involved in the characters on a personal level, but I am more like the fly-on-the-wall rather than an extension of the character. I like to observe in my visualizations rather than what I call interfere with the story.
But, it does all depend on the book. With some of the more complex novels or with stories in which I am not familiar with the setting or plot I tend to take the fly-on-the-wall approach. However, with other stories I become more fully an extension of the character or I get personally involved in the story. I must admit that I am a romance novel reader and with those books I do get more involved. If I know that it will be a happy ending (as in most romance novels) then I feel good about getting involved, but if I do not know about the ending, or if I know it is going to be sad, I tend to use the fly-on-the-wall approach.
I tend to get a little lost in the story too. I devote my almost every moment to it. I have a hard time reading books by Stephen King and romance novels because I often let everything else go, like cleaning up after my kids or taking my dog outside. I usually try to read those books after my kids go to bed and then I find myself at 3 a.m. wondering where the time went.
I do not think I consciously chose to get involved in books anymore. If I find the story interesting I am fully engaged without having to try to force myself to do anything. If I do not find the story interesting I tend to force myself to sit in a quiet room and have few distractions. I also give a book about 10-20 pages before I will abandon it, but that depends on the size of the book. If it is a short story or a short novel, sometimes a few pages or paragraphs are sufficient enough for my judgment call.
This is how I do literary reading. I do not think that everyone who reads in-depth reads the same. I think the reader choses which books he or she will get into and I think that depending on the reader's position in life at that time can make the choice to be more in-depth for him or her.