Reading

Several weeks ago, someone asked me what I was reading. I answered by saying that I was reading a book for one of my classes. I wasn't reading it for fun, I was reading it because I had to.

The thing is, I've never been much of a book reader. I hear people say things like "curling up with a good book", but, to be honest, that does not sound the least bit appealing to me. I told Lauren the other night that I'd rather clean our kitchen than read a book. Almost all of the book reading I've done in my life falls into two categories: I had to read it for school or I was traveling - when I travel, I read when I feel like I have nothing better to do.

Recently, I've been doing a lot of online reading; like many people, I've become obsessed with the election and I read several articles a day on election-related topics. I also read a lot of sports articles - this time of year, I read about college football (this past weekend was a crazy college football weekend).

I've been thinking about why I like to read online articles, but not books and I think it has to do with length. I like to know the end sooner than a book lets me. A novel might take a week or 12 for me to get through. Some people like that, I don't. I like my movies short, my stories short (there's nothing like someone who tells a story that drags on and on), and I like what I read to be short.

I hope that if/when we have kids, they take after Lauren and enjoy reading books. I think it's good to be well read and I wish I was, but I'm not.