The Next Best Book Club discussion

do you have to read?

And, as importantly, if you didn't have anything else to do, how much time would you spend reading?


I'm retired, so have all the time in the world. Still, I don't spend my entire days reading. I admit freely, though, that I spend more time reading now than when I worked. And I've been reading more since the Spring Challenge started. I was reading mostly when I went to bed, though I might go to bed early so I could read. (I so related to Margaret in The Thirteenth Tale A Novel getting to bed at 8:00 so she could read!) Lately, I've been finding some time in the afternoons, too.

I'm lucky if I get an hour a day to read. Since I work full time and have a small child, I'm up early, on the go all day, and to bed late. So I don't have much time to sit down with a book. And I HAVE to get to the gym every evening...it's my stress relief, and I'm vigilant about it. So, I'd probably have a lot more reading time if I didn't do that! I usually always try to read before I go to bed for at least half an hour (I've been known to stay up late if it's a great book...but by 11 I'm generally falling asleep, good book or not).

If I had nothing else to do, I think I'd read as much as I could! I went on a business trip back in the fall, and with my mornings and evenings completely free I read 3 books in 5 days...usually I only average 5 a month!

A blissful week for me would involve a completely empty schedule, a beach, and a giant stack of books!

I try to make sure I spend as much of my time reading as I can. I work full-time, but take a 20-30 minute bus ride to and from work, plus the few minutes I usually stand waiting for the bus to arrive. If I have time to take a full hour of lunch at my job I try to read during that time as well. If I leave work on time I usually get home about 5 or so, and spend some time with the dogs and the boyfriend, but the rest of the evening I spend reading. I also spend most of my weekend reading after doing the usual errands, cleaning, bills, etc.

I often think I would read even more if I did not work or had other responsibilities, but that's not really my style. I am wracked with guilt on the few days I take off sick during the year, so it's hard for me to imagine not working at this point in my life. My mother, also an avid reader, has been unable to work for the past several years and I used to tease her that she could now read all of the time, but she finds less time to read now than I do. The same is true for her sister who is retired. They have less time to read now than they did when they were working and raising families, so I often joke that I'm scared to retire and lose all my reading time! :)

Years ago my mother worked with a man who was on the verge of full-time retirement. He was younger than normal retirement age, but had purposely spent the majority of his life working more than he needed to in order to be able to retire early (and afford it). His goal? To spend the rest of his life reading all of the books he had spent a lifetime collecting during his working years. He always was sort of a hero of mine. :)

I read for a few hours each day, during the majority of my free moments.
I go to school full-time and also work at least 20 hours a week as well as participate in extracurriculars and the occasional bar night with friends. I feel like I have no time, seriously I would rather be working or just doing college, but I have to do both.
Ugh I just want to take a year off and do nothing but travel like a vagabond and laze about all day just reading.

Jen, reading while traveling is one of my main luxuries. I'm on the computer a lot at home, but away from home I read and read and read some more.

Elizabeth wrote: "Jen, reading while traveling is one of my main luxuries. I'm on the computer a lot at home, but away from home I read and read and read some more."
I don't travel a lot, but it was a definite luxury! I couldn't do it all the time...I hate being away from my boys. But after that week, I think a "me" weekend each year is definitely in order!

It's hard to say how much I read during the day since most of it is in spurts (waiting for a meeting to start, or for my daughters to come out of ballet/swim class, or during commercials)

I definitely get at least an hour a day during the week if you add it all up (sometimes more if there's nothing on TV in the evening.) Weekends are another story....there have been times that I have read from the time I woke up to the time I fell asleep (minus the usual interruptions from family :)

I am not working and don't have children, so my time is generally my own. I probably read at least 6 hours a day. Most days it is probably more. I read until I have a headache and then take a break. I have read 53 books and 18,401 pages so far this year.

I'm starting some physical therapy soon, so that will eat up some of my hours. So maybe just 4 hours a day.

Hope the PT goes well, Lisa.

I usually read for about an hour and a half a day, mostly before bed. On my days off I'll usually read more just depends if I feel like actually getting anything accomplished...

I read on my days off, which happen to fall on the days my kids are in school (tues-thur)... so I clean the house up early and plop my ass down to read for a good chunk of the day.

But Im a slower reader. I like to really READ what Im reading.. if you know what I mean.

Lori, I, too, feel I'm a slower reader. Some books are quicker than others, to be sure, but others need to be savored. Savoring something takes time.

I work full time, 8 hours a day doing transcription, so by the time I'm done my eyes hurt and my head is pounding. So during the week I maybe read an hour a day. On the weekends it's more like 3, but in spurts as I get migraines rather easily. If I had nothing else to do I would love to just read and read, but I'm sure I wouldn't be able to do it with my headaches. :( Reading has always been my greatest love.

depends a bit during the weekdays. Sometimes around an hour and a half two hours. I read on the bus most of time which daily is in total about minutes reading and I read during lunch which could be an hour but msot of the time i go back to working after minutes. And then when i don't finsih my dinner to late and I am not too tired I try to read an hour.

During the week, I usually read for about an hour before bed. On the weekends or days off, I might spend 2-3 total hours reading in a day.

Elizabeth wrote: "Hope the PT goes well, Lisa. "

Thanks. I'm hopeful.

I work full-time and am married with an almost 5-year-old, so I can read on my lunch hour and maybe after my son goes to bed around 9:30 or 10:00. Most night I manage to read an hour before bed.

Any other mothers here feel guilt whenever they try to sneak in some reading time? It's the same thing with the computer. I've got a lot of mommy guilt. When I was single or married w/out a child I could read for hours and hours.

It's important for children not only to be read *to*, but also to see their parents reading. Go ahead and set a good example!

I'm like Fiona- it depends on the books that I'm reading. If I'm really sucked into a book, I find myself making time for it through out the day. I stay at home with my two year old, so he takes a lot of my time during the day but once he's down for the night my reading time begins. I'm a night owl too so I usually get in a few hours before it's lights out.

Thanks, Elizabeth. I agree. My hubby and I are avid readers, and so far Lucas loves to be read to. I love to walk in on him sitting on the floor flipping through a book and "reading" to himself. Hope he loves to read on his own as much as we do.

One of my favorite stories about my daughter is my wakening in the middle of the night hearing a strange sound, which kept repeating itself. Finally, I got up to investigate and found my 2-1/2 year old daughter sitting in the hallway in front of the heater, in the dark, with a book (upside down, though would it matter?), "reading". I suppose I could have felt bad that she had gotten up and failed to come crawl in bed with me, but I was so amused to find her taking comfort in a book that I didn't feel in the least slighted. Now 42, that daughter reads at least a novel a week, sometimes two.

I leave for work an hour early so I can have about 45 minutes to read. I read on my lunch break. I get books online and pdf them when I'm at work (otherwise that would be a wasted six hours of my day). I read pretty much from the time I get home until I go to sleep.

About half an hour when I go to bed before turning of the light.
When I am on vacation I read up to 80 % of the time I am awake. It depends on the book I am reading. But there are days where I don't read at all because from time to time I love to go to museums, puzzle or work on my genealogy.
I am really looking forward to my retirement in about 22 years because then I have all the time I need to read all those unread books I own...

Elizabeth - that sounds like a story my mother could tell about me! I am also now 42 and an addicted reader.

Susanna wrote: "Elizabeth - that sounds like a story my mother could tell about me! I am also now 42 and an addicted reader."

I'd be happy to adopt you. ;)

Stef, I feel your pain...I have only 37 more years until I retire and can focus on my reading! Until then, work takes up almost all of my time. I'm lucky if I can get a few hours in on the weekends. I definitely manage to find the time for a good book.

Tressa wrote: "Any other mothers here feel guilt whenever they try to sneak in some reading time?"

I read all the time when my son was first born, but I guess that is because he was sleeping all the time. Now that he is 8 months old, he doesn't want to nap, so I get no daytime reading on the weekends. And since my husband works weekends now, the only time we get to spend together is in the evenings. I feel guilty trying to sneak away from the baby so I can read in peace for a little while. But, I enjoy reading to him and used to read to him from my books out loud, when he was first born.

As for how much I read, I probably read about an hour and a half each day. I have a 40 minute train commute to and from work, so that is when I get a majority of my reading done. Occasionally, I will get home early enough in the day to feel like getting some reading done and sometimes I get it done here at work, when we aren't very busy.