READING CLUTTER

I like any post to be accompanied by at least one image. I am not sure if that is because I find that reading from a screen is tiring on the eyes, far more than on paper. By this I do not mean that my paper gets tired, but that my eyes reading from a book, magazine or newspaper can go for hours, whereas gazing at pixels seems to sap my powers of concentration. A picture often tells you all you need to know and saves you the trouble of reading the article; or it can interest you enough to engage with the words and find out more. There is probably an art to that, Other blogs of mine have been merely a vehicle to display my artwork or photographs, but hopefully this one will be more ...intriguing?

Mind you, I am reading far less nowadays than I have been used to, and wonder if this is a commonplace or if it is just me. Lifestyle changes undoubtedly play a part. In my youth I had acres of time to fill, and often chose to read over other pursuits. I am thus well-read, but rubbish at any sort of sporting endeavour. As I have aged, attending to business during the day and attending on my lovely wife in the evenings (this is a very generalised version of each day, I should add), has pushed my reading time into the long grass.

My style of reading also has changed. Gone are the days when I would choose a book, read it through and return it to the shelf. I clutter up my bedside table - or under it at least - with quite a few books of various degrees of seriousness, weight or import.

Offhand I am presently in the process of 'reading' nine books (including my Bible), although I have not looked at three of these in some weeks and have only dipped into the others for only a paragraph or two at a time. Where is the fun in that? This does not include audiobooks - not technically reading, I know, but... - and of these, one recent purchase is an audio Bible, which boasts 86 hours of listening. I nearly said 'listening pleasure' there, and although generally all this should be a pleasurable experience, after a time it becomes a chore.

So I try to look on my lack of reading as a freedom from the tyranny of the printed word, but it lacks conviction somehow. I must make the effort to put aside an afternoon - an evening maybe - half-an-hour surely - to settle down and once again enjoy a good yarn well told. 

Now I am sure I have a good Patrick O'Brian novel on the bookshelf that I have been meaning to read for ages. Or maybe I should finish a couple of these other things first...?

Oh help!

George's current reading list:

The Bible

The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers - Oswald Chambers

Song of Songs - Watchman Nee

The Gathering Storm - Winston S Churchill

The Charm of Ireland - Stephen Gwynne

Seeing Salvation - Neil MacGregor & Erika Langmuir

Thrones, Dominations - Dorothy L Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh

How to Read A Painting - Patrick de Rynck

Memoir and Remains of R M M'Cheyne - Andrew Bonar
Letter from America - Alistair Cooke

Which is 10 not 9...

...and there may be others.

G J Stewart

Humphreystown, 28th April 2015