Literary Blog Hop: My Style

It has been awhile since I've participated in the Literary Blog Hop at The Blue Bookcase.  I'm not sure why, because it is one of my favorite bookish thingies on the internet.

The question for this month is:

How do you find time to read, what's your reading style and where do you think reading literature should rank in society's priorities? 

Finding time: I don't make as much time to read as I should or could.  I'm a very quick reader, and I take a book with me everywhere I go.  I read every night before bed for a little bit.  I read in waiting rooms and during my lunch.  I read in the bathtub.  Sometimes I come home from work in the late afternoon and spend a few hours reading on my couch, or lay around reading all day on a Saturday.  I go to coffee shops and read on the weekends.  I read e-books on the treadmill at the gym.  Basically, I squeeze it in, in little pockets around my schedule.  And I try to read instead of other doing things, like watching TV or mindlessly looking at stuff on the internet.  Often, I fail at balancing that, and spend hours reading Tumblrs. Sometimes that is what I feel like doing though.

 

Reading style: I used to annotate a lot; now I don't.  Sometimes I take notes, and sometimes I stick in a some post-it notes to mark passages.  I don't keep books after I've read them as often as I used to.  I read much faster than I did as a student.  Now that I'm not studying Literature, I think I'm a much more casual reader, although my brain still works the same way, so I'm always analyzing.

 

Reading and society: I think reading and literacy should be a higher priority in most people's lives.  I'm an English teacher, so I make a living believing and encouraging that.  Reading encourages critical thinking, especially when we read broadly.  It also helps to develop writing skills and other communication skills.  That's important.  That said, I understand that we live in a world filled with distractions, and that literacy is broader than words on a page.  So, although I believe that there is much to be learned from reading literature, there are other ways to develop literacy skills as well, and there are great non-fiction books/popular books/websites/films/publications out there that are worth our time as well.