Learning How to Read Slowly Again... from The New York Times. Part review, part musing on the fact that if we try to read everything, we end up absorbing nothing. Perhaps that's what happens when we no longer face the prospect of writing papers or having discussions on books, we skim on the subway to say we've read it and then can't remember a single word when we try to recall it a few months later. Perhaps all books should come with a short quiz at the end and if we can't pass the quiz on a book, we can't have the privilege of boasting that we've just finished it to our friends. "Does Mrs. Dalloway take place in (a) one hour, (b) one day, (c) one week, or (d) one month?"
Under discussion within the article (and supposedly books that might make us process more):
How to Read a Novel: A User's Guide by John Sutherland.
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose.
The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life by Edward Mendelson.
You've Got to Read This Book! 55 People Tell the Story of the Book that Changed Their Life by Jack Canfield & Gay Hendricks.
And the answer is (b) one day.
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