Booking Through Thursday – Goldilocks

Goldilocks September 6, 2007

Today’s Booking Through Thursday’s question is a good one:

Okay, so the other day, a friend was commenting on my monthly reading list and asked when I found the time to read. In the ensuing discussion, she described herself as a ‘œgoldilocks’ when it comes to reading’“she needs to have everything juuuuuust right to be able to focus. This caught my attention because, first, I thought that was a charming way of describing the condition, but, two, while we’™ve talked about our reading habits, this is an interesting wrinkle. I’™d never really thought about it that way.

So, this is my question to you’“are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’™s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital’“as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’™re happy to read?

I’m most definitely not a Goldilocks reader. I read wherever I can – yes, when I’m waiting for the kettle to boil and certainly whilst waiting at the hospital, unless it’s an appointment that I’m really worried about and then I can’t concentrate – but I’ll try. The only time I really can’t read is when I’m too ill either to hold a book or to concentrate on the words – that’s most frustrating.

Times and places I’ve read include:

  • Waiting for the lift in the tower block building where I used to work – I could snatch a few minutes there.
  • Whilst cooking – whilst waiting for the timer to go off for the next stage in a recipe.
  • Whilst knitting, if the book will stay open on my knee – that’s one example of where it does have to be just the right book.
  • When waiting in the car whilst my husband is in a DIY shop – he can spend as long in there as I can in a library or bookshop, I have no objections about that.
  • Break times at work – a job where we had to take individual breaks – that was really good as I could stretch a few extra minutes if I was lucky.
  • During the adverts on TV, and sometimes during a programme if it’s not too hard to follow.
  • In bed.
  • On a plane journey, at the airport, railway station, bus stop.
  • In the garden of course, preferably in a hammock, but that’s not a definite requirement, any old chair will do, or the on grass.
  • In a cafe or tearoom (but not a restaurant – that would be too unsociable).
  • Walking round the house (I used to get told off as a child for doing this – I’d jump down the first three steps to the turn of the stairs and amble down the rest).

I keep a book in the car and take one in my handbag ready for that unexpected time when there just might be an opportunity to read. I can’t actually read whilst travelling in a car or bus as it makes me feel sick, but other journeys are great for reading.

15 comments

  1. Great answers!I too read whenever I get the chance. I can’t read in a bus though, it makes me giddy but other than that I can read anywhere.Happy reading!

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  2. I’m the same way–I always have a book in hand. I get very frustrated when my eye doctor dilates my pupils; I can’t pull the letters into focus. Solution? I take a nap, because if I can’t read, why do anything? 🙂

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  3. I’m not a goldilocks reader either!One I can’t understand is how people can exercise and read! Just about anything else I do though!

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  4. Reading while watching tv – I do that all the time! Usually it works out, but there are times when I find myself a little lost and thinking “What did I miss?”. Although reading hands-free is something I’m yet to master.

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  5. I can’t read while knitting–I think because I read fast & would be too disruptive to keep on turning pages. I can watch subtitled movies while knitting, though 🙂

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  6. I always take a book with me, sometimes two, and as long as I have my hands reasonably free to read I can read almost anywhere, anytime. It certainly helps me get through so many books!

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  7. Oh….I love your answers!! I’m not a Goldilocks either! With my life, there really isn’t a way. If I had to wait for the perfect time to read, I’d never be able to finish a book!!

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  8. I love to read at the cafe or the coffee place with some treat. I have done it plenty of time. Make the reading a pleasurement for me 🙂 I pretty much read anywhere, anytime …except when a book need the full concentration. Happy BTT!

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  9. Love your list of reading places. We readers will read anyplace and under any conditions. I read in front of the tv too, especially when my kids are watching it. Diane

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  10. Haha I do all of the things on your list besides the knitting one (I am not a great knitter and it takes all my concnetration). I have been reading more in adverts as well lately. The only place I can’t read is in a moving car as it makes me travel sick although buses, trains and planes seem fine mostly.

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