I’ve been meaning to get back into reading.
But you know how it is. There’s always an excuse or a reason you can’t. The novel is too long, you don’t like to read on train during your commute, you’re too tired after work. They’re all, or mostly, valid reasons. To actually read you have to push them all aside, “simply” find the time, and get the reading done.
To make this easier, I’ve found removing all the possible barriers helps. It makes sense, the fewer obstacles, the less you have to overcome and the fewer excuses you have chance to make. I’ve found a few ways to do this. An audiobook is one option, something you can listen to when doing something else. If I’m driving, I can listen to an audiobook. It’s passive, I don’t mind repeating a section if I momentarily have to actually look at the load, and there are incredibly few barriers. Once you’ve got the audiobook ready to play that is. Another option, I’ve recent discovered, is reading short stories.
A full novel can be a gargantuan task to the person cursed with commuting. Too crowded on the train. Too tired when home. It can take too long to really sink into the narrative, especially when it’s a slow burn. But a short story is much easier to dive into. A quick few minutes free, and you feel like you’ve made significant progress. Several twists have likely occurred. A revelation that makes you think just happened. You come away from the reading session feeling like you’ve actually managed to read. It provides me with that satisfaction that I’ve been struggling to fit into my horrifically mismanaged schedule.
Just look at these incredible covers…
Perhaps it’s my imagination, and I’m wrong as can be, but there seems to be a bit of a negative predisposition against reading short stories. That they are all smutty romance, only to be read on a kindle with some wine in a bath. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… but they can be more, too. If I bring up with another reader friend I’m reading a certain short story there are rarely questions, a clear sign of disinterest. A novel however, and it’s interview central. This could of course just be a symptom of not reading that form of media themselves, which is totally understandable.
Generally, I think the art form is currently underappreciated. Sure, it does well in certain circles, but after discovering the joy myself, we need to get more into it. I’ll certainly be perusing more short story journals myself.
The specific publication that inspired this article was Clarkesworld, a collection of VERY thought provoking science fiction stories, and a couple of interesting non-fiction articles too. Have a look yourself, especially if you’re into anything sci-fi, and also find yourself with little time to actually read it.