After 3 months of unseasonably cool weather in Florida, it seems the warm weather has finally arrived. I marked the occasion by reading by the pool yesterday afternoon. But whenever I bring my book down to the pool or to the beach, I always find myself reading slower. After an hour at the pool, I had only read 20 pages. I do get sucked into people watching a little so that distracts me, but I get distracted at home so I don’t think that accounts for all of it. The same thing happens when I take my book anywhere – the coffee shop, the park, a restaurant. I read faster when I am home.
I’m sure it is easier to get lost in a book when you don’t have to be too aware of your surroundings. When I’m on my couch, I can direct more of my senses to my book than I can at the beach or Starbucks. I don’t need to be worried about a rogue Frisbee or a fellow patron’s backpack hitting me. Aside from an incident with the cats, I can be pretty sure that nothing is going to happen while I’m reading at home that I need to worry about. I heard a story on NPR this week about how we really can’t multitask and it just makes all of the tasks we try to do take longer in the end than if we had done them separately. Is this what explains my reading speed yesterday? Perhaps I am simply unable to devote enough of myself to a book when I’m reading in public.
Does your location affect your reading?
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I started doing this awhile ago and never kept it up. So here is a reprisal of what media I am currently consuming.
Reading:
I am trying to finish up East of Eden
Watching:
Aside from the shows that are currently on television, we have been watching old episodes of How I Met Your Mother
Listening to:
I just downloaded a few albums that I am loving: Matt Nathanson – iTunes Live Session, Alkaline Trio – Agony & Irony
my books. my life. 
It definitely does affect me. At home I can totally immerse myself but when I’m out in public I, too, feel the need to know what’s going on around me. And I know people can see me reading too so I feel like I can’t totally immerse myself in it for some reason, haha.
I’m soo happy for the warmer weather, FINALLY!!!! I’m really sad though that it got cloudy here when we got home b/c I so wanted to go to the pool. It was cloudy and breezy so it wouldn’t have been that nice there. And today it’s supposed to rain… but I’ll take advantage of whatever sun there is!
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It started raining at 1pm here and didn’t stop all day. Perfect for the baseball game I was taking friends to at 1:05. It got rained out and we ended up watching basketball all day.
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Gilmore Girls and How I met your Mother – you’re my new favorite person 😉
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Hi Michelle, I’ve got a book fgiveaway on my blog if you wish to take part. All the best. Ciao. A.
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Interesting to read your thoughts on reading in different places. I find that I read faster when I am at home, but I also like reading in a cafe – I read faster there too.
I agree with the NPR article – I feel that multitasking makes us spend more time than we would have, if we tried doing things one by one.
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I like reading in public, too. I’m just not as efficient.
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I love to read in (what my family calls it, anyway) my Meditation Room.
I’m hosting a giveaway on my Sunday Salon post today. I plan to give away two $10 gift cards to Amazon on Easter Sunday. I hope you will stop by and sign up!
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