shocking discovery

I knew it would happen. People warned me about this when I entered this field. IT was, after all, bound to happen: I would lose my hobby.

And you know, I was willing to put up with that. I was prepared to read for class, and only for class. To not have time for other reading. To not be able to split my concentration as much. The memory of summers gone by when I'd read seven books at once and keep it all straight... well, it's only a memory now. I'm lucky if I can keep Dickens and Frost apart in my mind during a semester. But this blurring of texts can be solved by taking notes during the reading process. Makes things a bit boring, but that's the price one pays for being a grad student in English.

Loss of hobby.

This is all background. I'm about to reveal a terribly unlikely thing to you. It's unconscionable, in fact. That I typically lack the time/motivation/spare brainpower to read for fun was anticipated. But--now I'm finding that I really don't enjoy reading, period. I struggle to find the desire to finish single chapters. I look at a book and dread the day I must pick it up.

I'll admit, the books I'm being faced with aren't my first choice as far as pleasurable reading goes. I'd rather leave the Stephen King stuff to those who like it. I've never been fond of crime thrillers, mysteries, romances... And perhaps the types of books I'm looking at are responsible for this downward spiral of interesting in reading. I hope so. If this is the case, I'm not ruined by schooling.

I read these things and pick apart all the flaws in the writing. I think after a chapter that character A was too thoroughly described, and that half the chapter wasn't necessary. Or that scenarios 1-3 need vastly more flesh to become real. Or that the scene-shifting device used by the author is kitschy, over-used and just plain moronic. Maybe it's the genre. Maybe there are no good books in the crime thriller spectrum.

I refuse to believe this is the case, however. Too many people read these and enjoy them for the entire genre to be screwy. And the readers aren't idiots searching for easy reads, either.

Oh well. This entry has been rambling all over the place, so I'll bring it back home with the summary: I'm afraid I no longer enjoy reading (period), due to the influence of coursework, too much thinking, and a load of books I would never buy if I could spend the money on anything else. Sigh.

On the lighter side of things, I have made the decision to join the HNT crowd next week. Look for the entry come Thursday morning. No hints. You'll just have to wait.

END.