Janine Melnitz: I bet you like to read a lot, too.
Dr. Egon Spengler: Print is dead.
Although I crushed hard on Egon back in the day (oh let’s face it, I still do), his dismissal of the printed word always lost me. What did that mean, anyway? I loved to read, and so did almost everyone I knew, and didn’t scientists have to read a lot? The joke went over my 11-year-old head, but I did start considering what it might be like to collect spores, mold, and fungus.
Now that Dr. Spengler’s statement is even more apt today, I’m also finding lately that my usual voracious appetite for books has waned alarmingly. Besides the usual collection of books I’ve had for years and haven’t gotten around to — you have one too, right? — I have a stack of new books I really want to read, and just don’t have the motivation to pick up right now. Richard Dawkins and Terry Pratchett are sitting around on my bedside table, wondering why they aren’t getting any action. So to speak.
As far as nonfiction goes, these days I do so much reading about science and skepticism online (not to mention writing and editing) that it’s almost like a job, or more accurately like throwing myself into a degree program. Every day I decide “this is the day I start The Demon-Haunted World” is also a day where I end up reading pages and pages of skeptical news and blogs. The Internet is a distraction, yes, but I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time as I’m learning immense amounts, and loving it. But there’s only so much I can study anymore — that capacity got nerfed as well — so instead of kicking back with Carl when I take a break from the net, I go looking for escapism.
So why don’t I pick up that novel instead, and vanish into some excellent storytelling? Because I’m finding it elsewhere at the moment. I’ve waxed rhapsodic about Dragon Age: Origins previously, and since then I’ve also restarted Mass Effect. Bioware, the company that makes these games, is renowned for the world-building, character development, and storytelling that goes into them. Ferelden and the Systems Alliance are brought to incredibly vivid life with masterful voice acting and compelling plots, and while the games change depending on your actions, they are no mere choose-your-own-adventures. Little moments, like Alistair interrupting an important scene to wonder why I never told him I’d been betrothed once (awkward!), or an assassin smoothly slipping out of the shot when Shepard is on TV, truly allow you to feel that you’re not just plugging into a predetermined pathway, but that your words, actions, and relationships have true consequences in the world. And the codices! Between DA and ME, there’s a novel’s worth of reading I have yet to do right there.
The games aren’t distracting me from reading purely because I’m spending my free time on them, but rather because they deeply satisfy my craving for great storytelling. And if it weren’t for the games, I’d still have these comics that are so ridiculously good, they achieve the same thing. I was never much for them, especially the superhero genre, but in college I had to read Maus for a freshman lit class, and my views on graphic novels were blown all to hell. Later, my friend Teena, who used to work for Dark Horse Comics, pushed The Dark Knight into my hands and said “Just read it.” She was my official Comics Arbiter until Paul took over that position, and I credit them both with igniting my interest.
I have picky and eclectic tastes in comics. I love both Persepolis and Owly, and I especially get a kick out of stories that turn the superhero genre on its ear. For example, I can’t get enough of The Boys, which surprised the hell out of someone once who told me “I didn’t think girls read that one.” Yeah, it’s off-the-charts raunchy, violent, and offensive, but hilariously so, and the characters leap right off the page out of a story that just keeps getting deeper and twistier. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently read the entire four-issue run of Beasts of Burden, as well as the anthology stories that are available online. It’s sort of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer as enacted by anthropomorphized neighborhood pets; a seemingly over-cute concept, but in fact it has beautiful art, compelling characters, and stories that — well, I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m not sure I’ll ever forget issue #2 (“Lost”).
As a lifelong lover of books, I can’t help feeling guilty that I’m getting the goods elsewhere, but I also realize how silly this is when there’s so much good fiction and nonfiction in other media. However, Mort isn’t going to go unread forever, nor is The Selfish Gene. I’ll get back to all those shiny, delicious-smelling pages soon. Print isn’t dead to me…for now, it’s just taking a little nap.
(Yes, I know this is the second blog post in as many weeks to reference Ghostbusters. Back off, man — I’m a skeptic.)
Attention is a finite resource. Adequately dividing my attention is a very real problem to me as well. For what it’s worth, one of my very few, very limited New Year’s resolutions was that I would simply budget more time to read more for pleasure (and that includes audiobooks sometimes too). It’s something I very much enjoy. When I was a teen I would easily consume two to three books a week.
While I recognize that age, ill health and responsibilities mean that I’ll never recapture that level of immersion in the printed word, I feel I owe it to myself to at least make time for a couple of books a month, plus some short form fiction. And the effect it has on my psyche is immense. It makes me less grouchy, less irritable, less judgmental, more patient and more easily able to get into the flow during the day. In short, reading makes me a better person (or at least more tolerable to be around).
Please don’t take that as arrogance or dismissive of other media (such as video games or comics or graphic novels). Far from it. I value those too. For myself though, right now, I’m just mostly directing my attention to good fiction (meaning fiction I’m interested in, and not something I’m reading because I was told it was good).
In particular, I’ve been on something of a Michael Chabon kick of late. So far I’ve read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (a book I think you as a comic book geek would adore) and Summerland. I also just finished the audiobook version of Manhood For Amateurs (a collection of Chabon’s essays). I think I need to get copies of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Yiddish Policeman’s Union next.
It’s funny you mention Chabon, because Kavalier and Clay (about which you are absolutely right, I adored it!) is also sitting on my bedside table, just a few pages into being reread. Yiddish Policeman’s Union is #1 on my fiction wishlist. I can curl up into his prose for hours.
I agree that budgeting time is the key, and when I decide I do want to be reading more books, I’ll make a concerted effort to do that, as you describe. I’m not really bemoaning the fact that I’m not; it just occurred to me to wonder why exactly my voracious consumption of books has eased off (for now).
I find that books I want to read don’t get read unless I set aside some time to do exactly that. Therefore for about 15-30 minutes before I go to sleep I read. Not entirely sure that reading books like Bad Science is a good idea when one is falling asleep, but it’s the only time I have to do so.