Where do you Read?

Today is International Literacy Day!

Do you have a special reading nest/nook?
Do you enjoy reading in just one place?
Do you have better focus there?
Did you find a reading nook helpful when you were learning to read?

Or do you pick up a book and read just about anywhere?

So I've been thinking about this one a lot.
People set up reading nooks for their kids. Neat idea to encourage reading, right?
But I keep thinking maybe it's not really that important...

Wouldn't it be better to just put a book in your kid's hands and have them read (and sometimes aloud to you)? Anywhere and everywhere? Many times a day? I've never really seen the point of creating a special place. Teachers would have reading nooks in the classroom and would tell students to go sit there when they're done with an assignment... but I preferred to just pull my book out of my desk and read at my desk. Getting up from the seat is disruptive, and who needs someplace special to read? Once I start reading I find myself in a different world entirely.

 

So, one of the things I really struggle with as an English teacher is having to read to my class AND still be attentive to what's going on in the classroom. When I read, the world disappears. It's nearly impossible to get my attention. I think this stems from the fact that I read anywhere and everywhere as a child. We had no special spot at home; I read a lot in my room because it was comfortable, but I was just as likely to go read outside under my favorite tree, on our deck, or on the sofa. I certainly don't expect my students to get up to go somewhere else to read; as you point out, @genuinemommy, it's disruptive. Students at the school I work at are expected to have a book to read with them at all times (for real, and they do! It's so awesome!) so that they can read at their desk after their work is done.

Even as an adult, I read all over the place. I love reading at a coffeeshop, a bar, a park, at the beach, while camping. Reading outside in nature is one of the true joys of life. There's just something incredibly peaceful about it.

 

I read a lot, and always have since. My mom taught me before I even started school and I have loved it ever since. As a kid I would read in my room, while eating, in front of the TV, in the car, and just about everywhere in between.

Today I do the same. I mostly read on my iPad using my Kindle app, and I pretty much take my iPad everywhere, so I always have a couple books with me (plus my phone syncs to my iPad for book reading). Since I travel a lot for work, and often am by myself at meal time, I sit at restaurants and bars and read constantly. At home I read anywhere/everywhere. I often sit at a particular seat at our dining room table that gives me a view into the living room and the TV, as well as out the front windows and of the front door. That is probably my favorite spot. It allows me to see what is going on in the house and the neighborhood, glance at the TV if my wife is watching something, talk to her, and/or have a game or something on in the background. But really, at the end of the day I read all over the place.

 

Mostly bed...but lately on the train.

I'm old-school...classic books, I have a Nook but I never use it.
Yet I read the news constantly online...and other articles, rarely magazines anymore though. Mostly at my desk at home or office.
Strange.

I learned to love read where I grew up...The Remarkable Bookshop in old town, Westport CT.
My grandmother managed it...Hot pink Colonial house with a dancing little man for it's logo.
Unvarnished old wood floors, white-washed old wood shelfs, nooks & crannies. Little doodads everywhere.
And my mother took me to the library a lot.

I'm a book-a-holic...
Have a baseball cap from the Library of Congress, with a quote from Thomas Jefferson,
"I cannot live without books"

I'm always reading...now if I can someday learn how to write in proper grammar.

My fav to read is Fantasy sagas, standard fare...something with nice banter
...and Science fact. (ooo...I delve deep into that)

I don't often go out of my way for the classics...but my "otherwise" interests are quite eclectic, with topics that most don't go after.
I'm always looking for a new favor...a perspective that most don't look for.

 

That was a big part of it for me, I think. I grew up around books. My parents had shelves and shelves of books. We had a little nook in our daylight basement, about 12x10, that served as our home library, and we had six gigantic bookshelves just crammed with books of all kinds; this did not include the personal collection I had, or the boxes of romance novels my mom kept in a closet. I know of very few people that have as many books as my family had between all of us when I was growing up. That was one of the things that saddened me when I met my in-laws--they have one three-tier bookshelf worth of books, buried in a back room.

 

I agree, this is a brilliant policy.

 

I also read in the shower.

Seriously.

I usually take Sports Illustrated in there and stand with it above the water and read for a minute or two before getting down to business. My wife makes fun of me for it.

 

I do this too.

 

Dad and Mom are both avid readers. I don't remember being taught to read, but I was reading by age 4 when I started Kindergarten. I was a pest to our small town public librarian, because I wouldn't stay out of the adult areas.
I read whenever, wherever, if I have a few minutes or hours. I hardly watch TV so reading and listening to music, sometimes both at the same time, are my favorite things to do. I don't really like reading in an armchair or sofa, it's hard to hold the book right and the lighting always seems to be wrong. Sometimes I'll read lying on my belly on the floor, holding my chin up with my forearms. And I'll read in bed, lying flat on my back.

I really prefer to read at a table or desk, with a good lamp. I don't like the light source to be behind me, unless it is off to one side. I don't like to have the book in a shadow. If I'm at my desk it is handy to use the computer if I run across an unfamiliar word or expression. TV distracts me when I'm reading, so oftentimes Sig is watching TV while I read and listen to music in another room. Music doesn't distract, If I'm reading, I listen mostly to classical and jazz without vocals. Vocals distract.

I read at least a couple of hours a day for my work, mostly business economics and securities analyses.

Recreationally, I still read more non-fiction than fiction, but sometimes I'll go for a couple of weeks reading mostly fiction and poetry. I usually have at least two or three books going at the same time. I have a Kindle, but don't use it much, but once in a while I read something that's not available on print and paper. I prefer the feel of pages, and I use sticky notes and sometimes ever highliters.

I used to even read while driving, but got stopped by a cop on the Indiana Toll Road. He stood by the side of my car and lectured me for five minutes about how dangerous it was, all the while trying to pretend that he wasn't looking down the front of my shirt. He gave me a warning for negligent driving. I usually have at least a couple of books and/or magazines in the car, but I don't read while driving anymore. Stuck in a drive-thru? Yes, I'm probably reading.

 

I'm an easily distracted, slow, and sometimes apathetic reader, so I need a quiet place. I prefer to read alone in my study. Failing that, I can read if I have headphones and some music that can work as a filter for distractions.

I used to read on public transit, but I gave it up because I don't like reading in small intervals. I don't do long hauls anymore. Most of my trips have two or three transfers now.