What’s On Your Nightstand?: Sticky Fingers
I maintain that there are two types of readers: Those who eat while in the act, and those who would sooner empty their vacuum-cleaner bag onto their bookshelves than eat while in the act. I have no firm data about how many of each type there are, possibly because I haven’t been able to hear anything over the din of the second types’ scolding. That’s right; I fall squarely into the “eat while reading” camp, just like Alice Liddell.
Those of us who eat (and drink; more on that in a moment) while we read don’t necessarily do so because we believe that the comestibles will enhance our reading experience. While there is something to be said for enjoying a delicious scone just as several characters sit down to tea, the real reason we eat while we read is so that we will not have to stop reading! I’m pretty sure I’m on to something, here–many’s the breakfast I’ve gulped down so I could finish “one more chapter!,” or the dessert I’ve asked to eat in my room for the same reason.
It’s like this even now, well into what is supposedly my adulthood. The easiest time to “steal” for reading is mealtime. Even the most tyrannical schedule has to include a lunch break, and when a schedule is truly chaotic, readers like me often find the best way to relax is…by reading!
Just as there are different types of meals, there are different types of reading material appropriate to each. For example, I keep catalogs from each day’s mail to leaf through when sitting down for a cup of coffee or a glass of water. Mid-afternoon snack time is perfect for reading one or two Talk of the Town pieces from The New Yorker. Lunch is for sneaking in a chapter or three of a book I can’t put down but absolutely have to if Book Riot is to continue being published.
How about you? What are your “hunger reads?”
NB: Your humble editor hasn’t been able to look at comments much between surgeries these past couple of weeks, but now that she is getting a cast and healing, she’ll be much better about checking in and checking “Like,” too. Thanks for your patience!
