Reading is FUNdamental (so says the poster in my school)

I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I spent two years getting a master's, focusing half of that time on getting certification to be a reading specialist. It was pretty much one year of hearing "Kids need to read read read read read read read" to become better readers. I feel like with that certification under my belt, I should be a huge reader. But I'm not. I have a "reading season," which is generally from about June through early September, depending on the weather--I like reading outside. So far, since I finished my regular teaching in June, I've read 6 books, which is considerably greater than the mere two or three books that I read for pleasure through last fall, winter, and early spring. The problem is that everytime I try reading inside, there are way too many other things to distract me, or the couch is too comfy and I wake up an hour and a half later. Another problem is that I was so totally turned off from reading during high school. I don't like being forced to read something.

Anyway. I know I'm not a ravenous reader at the time being. And I actually kind of thought I generally read less than a lot of people. Maybe I just have really smart friends? But this article completely shocked me. One in four adults didn't read a single book last year?! That fact alone made me think about how dumb our country is, but a few quotes in the article hammered that idea home:

"Fiction just doesn't interest me," said Bob Ryan, 41, who works for a construction company in Guntersville, Alabama. "If I'm going to get a story, I'll get a movie."

"I just get sleepy when I read," said Richard Bustos of Dallas, Texas. Bustos, a 34-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company, said he had not read any books in the last year and would rather spend time in his backyard pool.


On another subject completely, I chugged an iced coffee at 5pm today, severely breaking my "No coffee after 12pm" rule, as well as my "Coffee needs to be sipped slowly through the course of several hours" rule. Around 6 tonight, my hands were shaking, I was sweating all over, and my legs needed to be moving to a rhythm that matched my heart rate. Bill and I walked to Harvard square and back so I'd be able to sit at dinner without looking like an antsy four year old. It was ugly. And, nearly 7 hours later, I have a feeling I won't be falling asleep anytime soon.