Have you ever missed an important appointment because you have become so engrossed in a book you forgot the time or were up so late reading that you didn’t wake up in time? Been late to work because you couldn’t resist the temptation and left the house too late?

This happens to me all the time - in fact it’s part of the reason I have cut back a lot on the amount I read: I know how dangerous it is! When I was a child my parents regularly had to remove the bulbs from my bedroom lights to stop me reading. I remember staying up as late as 1am while still in primary school, I don’t remember struggling to wake in the morning although mum assures me this was the case!

It’s not always books: not long ago I was almost late for work as I’d been browsing around and discovering new blogs on spinning. One thing leads to another, you click the links and open multiple windows and suddenly it’s t minus 10mins and you have to run for the train.

These days I spend a lot of time rereading old favourites. I don’t become so gripped by the plot that I can’t bear to go to sleep before reading ‘just one more chapter’ and I don’t look up to find I should have got off the tube three stops earlier.

Bedside Table: ‘Possession’ by A.S. Byatt (reread)

I’m reading more bits of this the second time through. The plot is tempting enough that I couldn’t help skipping all the long poems, letters and quotations the first time. Did anyone else do that? I anticipate I’ll need a couple more readings to get through everything.

4 Responses to “What! Is that really the time?”
  1. Wibbo says:

    I skipped the poems when I read it - I thought the rest of the book was wonderful though!

  2. Vivienne says:

    I read every single word the first time, but have been skipping or skimming the poems since then. It’s still a favourite, I’ m just not the world’s greatest fan of Victorian poetry.

    I wonder what happened to all the hours there used to be? When I was a teenager I could make myself a nest of duvet on the floor and devour serious literature, whereas now I feel lucky if I find ten minutes for fun reading in a day, and anything other than the lightest fiction makes my eyes start to close.

  3. Kai says:

    I used to be a ‘all-night’ reader and occassionally I find myself doing it again….
    It’s bad for when I have to get up the next morning!! :)

    Moderation and only on weekends.. that’s my stipulation for myself..

  4. Lindsey says:

    Yes, yes, yes! This for me has been one of the perils of working part-time. I thought I would be a very vigilant housekeeper and cook great meals or get lots of wonderful knitting done in all my extra time. But no….it ends up being spent reading. And discovering the world of knitting blogs has made it that much worse. I’ve been known to multi-task while reading a book (yeah, I confess….yesterday I unloaded the dishwasher with one hand while holding a book with the other!). But blogs require me to sit here at my computer…limiting the household tasks I can complete. Which reminds me that I have laundry to fold…..bye!

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