Can you read TOO much?

Recently I was talking with the Reading Specialist about books we thought would be good picks for our 8th grade reading class. As we browsed through the lists of award winning books and came up with our own titles of books we read, a reoccurring event would happen. “Oh! How about The Compound! Did you read that?” I would nod, “Yes! I loved that book. That would be a good pick for the girls since there is a strong female protagonist.” “Isn’t the main character a boy?” the reading specialist replied. Hm. But isn’t there a strong female character too?

 Next book: “You know, I think the book Saving Armpit would be a good pick.” “What was it about?” The reading specialist asked. “Oh, hmm, well there was a girl, and she had this special power, and … actually that might be another book I read…Maybe Powerless?”

 This happened for so many books that we talked about! I had definitely read them, I remember the general gist or feeling from the story (i.e. a tale of survival, adventure, saving a town) but I couldn’t recall any of the actual plot, the main characters, or the settings of the story in a clear way. It worried me. After this conversation I walked away sure I had some kind of book amnesia. I was also worried: Do I read too many books? This is not something I would consider possible. A good book is like a bowl of ice cream minus the calories.

Yet, in the last four days, I finished reading Soccerland, Swagger, The Mediator Book 2, and Creamy v. Crunchy. I’m also in the middle of reading World Peace and other Fourth Grade Achievements and How My Summer Went Up In Flames. Next on my To Read list (as in I’ll read them within the next week): The Mediator Book 3, The Calder Games, Wild Cards, and Words Their Way.

I read five books in four days. I would say this is about average for me. Sometimes I read more (In the summer, it bumps up to about three books a day) and sometimes less (during busy times, maybe one book over three days). But I can tell you what these books were all about! Soccerland = Amazing! Is there a sequel?; Swagger = Sad, Not the kind of book I usually read or want to read; The Mediator = Slow at first but about 1/3 of the way in I was hooked (hence wanting to read the third book); and Creamy v. Crunchy was pretty good for a research book. It was about the history of peanut butter (and totally made me want to go eat my all natural organic peanut butter more than normal). Although (reader confession!) I did skip some pages in this last book.

I have a gist for the guts of the book. But do I actually remember the plot? Let’s take Soccerland as an example: It’s about a girl who dreams of playing for the US in the Olympics. Her mom died of cancer when she was 10 and her mom was also soccer player. She lives with her French-Canadian family in Maine where they own a potato farm. The majority of the book takes place at a US training camp where she spends two weeks essentially trying out for the US U15 soccer team. She ends up not making the team but the coach offers her the chance to live at the training grounds to train year round to ultimately be able to join U15. She jumps at the chance with the knowledge she is leaving her family (whom she is very close to) behind in Maine.

Phew. Okay that was actually seemed like a decent summary. Except, I don’t remember the girl’s name. And I didn’t capture all the parts that made it so amazing (such as all the inter- and intrapersonal details that made the book seem real, interesting, and inspiring) that are why I would recommend it.  And I read this book TWO days ago. As time goes on, I know that I’ll forget more. I’ll forget she has a cousin who she fights with like a brother. I’ll forget her grandpa had a heart attack (or is it a concussion?). I’ll forget her roommates name (Samantha). I’ll forget she lives in Maine and goes to train in Colorado (I think?).

I think my issue with reading books is that I devour them like I devour a bowl of ice cream when I have yet to eat dinner. Yum, slurp, gulp, gone. I don’t savor books. I don’t save books to read them later. I don’t reread books as much as I could (or should). I just think the more books I read, the better it is, except that it leads to long term book amnesia.

Four prong attack:

1) Read less. As oxymoronic as this sounds coming from someone who LOVES books like she loves ice cream, I think the less I read, the more I’ll remember. Chances are I’ll also read slower, because since I have less to read, I’ll be less likely to speed read and I’ll skim less (something I realize I totally do). I’ll want the pages to last longer.

2) Read more difficult books. I do wonder if the books I read aren’t challenging enough? Most of the books I read are young adult with a couple adult chick lit books and research books thrown in. They’re not particularly challenging to read. Give me an in-depth research article and it will take me several days (even weeks) and several read-throughs before I understand what I’m reading. I’ve tried to read Anna Karenina TWICE and both times I get about halfway through before I stop reading. The weird thing is I still remember scenes and ideas from this book even though last time I read it was three summers ago. Reading it was slow and I had to reread when I picked it up again. I couldn’t just skim the paragraph where I left off and then keep reading.

3) Be Picky. I need to read books that are of a worthy caliber. I admit sometimes I read books that are not so great. The writing isn’t strong or the characters are cliché.  Yet, I keep reading. It’s guilt! I picked out this book – now it’s my obligation to finish it! (Similar to when I bought cherry amaretto ice cream. I felt bad that I never tried it. I bought it and tried it. It was disgusting. Yet I ate the whole thing. I bought it! I had to eat it!).

4) Keep a log of the books I LOVE. Include the genre, main characters, the conflict, setting (time and place), plot and resolution. I expect my reading kiddos to be able to tell me these attributes about stories they read. Why shouldn’t I? I would also add for my teacher-y purposes reading level, age level appropriateness, and main use for instruction/in classroom. I designated LOVE because honestly I will still read books that I’m not a die-hard fan. Even with the five books I read this long weekend, I would just include Soccerland in my log.

I know this will definitely be an interesting journey as right now all I want to do is snuggle in bed and finish How My Summer Went Up In Flames (and I’m only about a fourth of the way through the book). Yet I’ll resist. Somehow. Perhaps with a time limit or a page limit. I’ll definitely update about how this progresses!

Here’s to savoring books!