Sunday, September 27, 2009

Reading Narcolepsy

Something horrible happened to me during law school. I lost my ability to read for pleasure.

It has been a while since I have been able to finish a non-legal book because no matter how interesting the book was, no matter what time of day I was reading, no matter how awake I was before I started reading, I would fall asleep after reading a couple pages. Out cold. I actually started reading magazines during law school because I knew I could at least finish an article before falling asleep.

I think my reading narcolepsy stems from the same reason of why I fall sleep if I am just watching a movie. I lost my ability to do one thing at a time. I am a serial multitasker. Even if I was reading the most boring case in the world, the reason why I stayed awake was being I was simultaneously taking notes. While "active" learning was worked for law school, I miss leisure reading. I remember how much I loved going to the library to pick out a new book to read. Heck, I even wanted to be an English major I liked reading that much.

So another goal for my post-graduate life: read a book a month. I have a few options on my shelf: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, which I have been working on for a year or so; True Compass, the Teddy Kennedy Memoir; Rediscovering Lone Pine, a fiction story written by one of my former professors; and a few others. By the end of October, make sure that I have written a book report to prove that I have read something.