Counting The Ways I Read...

Wednesday is about books, and reading. And sometimes, therefore, it's about writing too - including some of my own from time to time. Today, the ways in which I read...

I read a lot. I try to - at least. I sometimes don’t feel I’m giving reading my absolute best. But hey, work, a family, side-hustles and hobbies, and just general life (and its increasingly pesky ‘admin’) will do that eh. I still do pretty good all up - especially for a person that willingly writes phrases like “I still do pretty good all up” when talking about literature.

Not everything I read could be classed a “Literature” - and thank god. That crowd can be a precious bunch. I’d rather just dip in and out now and then, and, anyway, if it’s a ripping read that’s quality to me - that’s its own form of literature. And that can mean graphic novels, poetry, non-fiction, fiction of course, and those sly hybrid genres that are emerging and ever-evolving.

My dad would get home every night and read the newspaper cover to cover. He’d tell me it was ‘for work’. He was a car salesman, and needed therefore to know what was going on in the region, if not the country, and world. He needed the small-talk topics as a way in, and a way to continue to build relationships. He was then a business owner too, so he reckoned the paper was even more important to him. And after a long day of business-ing and car selling and providing for his family he enjoyed the newspaper and that was all. That was his reading. He’d tell me that papers passed across his desk all day, so he didn’t want to read any more things when he was at home. (I reckon he’s read 8 books since I’ve been alive).

And hey, fair enough. But there’s never been more ‘reading’ in jobs than right now. Everyone stares at a screen and drives a desk all day. Pretty much. And even if not, there’s still screens involved in every job these days, and screens in our pockets. Sometimes we can’t escape them right…which is one of the many reasons a book can feel like a calling/can feel like its calling…

At the end of a tough day at work, I love staring at more screens - oddly. I will watch a movie, or two or three, or binge a Netflix true-crime doco that I have a weird obligation to chew through even as it appears morally dubious in a way that makes me almost feel complicit in its calculating tone.

But I have never come home from a day in any office - even when my office, briefly, was on the side of the road holding a stop/go sign - and felt like I couldn’t read any more words for the day. Reading is so often a better option than whatever is on Netflix or Disney or Apple or TVNZ+ and, I was thinking, just the other day, that there’s a lot of ways to read - and a lot of options for the delivery of your reading.

Let’s count them.

1. I have a ‘library’ full of books. We have shelves galore in our house and they’re filled with books (as you’d hope). Many of them are titles I’ve never read - we cycle through the books and unless it’s a must-keep/must-loan/might-read-again, they tend to end up gifted to whoever wants them or donated to one of the great second-hand stores around the city. Because we’re always buying new and second-hand books to bring into our home.

2. I go to the actual Library. Wellington’s terrific Library - in fact I would pop in three or four times a week I reckon. I borrow books and CDs and I love the reserve fuction. I check out magazines and graphic novels, I get books to read, and sometimes just to skim, and of course I sometimes get them and don’t ever read them despite my very best intentions. Sometimes I have to get them out more than once to finish them, but that’s okay.

3. I bloody love my Kindle. I know it’s allegedly bad form to be some sort of “authentic” booklover and admit to having a Kindle. But, with respect, Get Fucked! I got my first Kindle about 10-12 years ago - and I just treated myself to a new one at the very start of this year. I haven’t got to know it too well just yet, but am so excited by the extra space, the waterproof-ness (apparently) and the slightly bigger screen. We also worked out the ‘sharing’ thing finally, so everything Katy buys for her Kindle gets to mix and mingle with everything I buy for mine. Which means EVEN MORE BOOKS I’LL PROBABLY NEVER ACTUALLY READ. And, well, that’s hot, really fucking hot!

4. People loan me books. I am trustworthy, I do return them - I might take a while, and require a few reminders, but I will return your book, often with a recommendation in return (and/or a copy to keep of something I no longer need) and I most certainly loan out books myself. All the time!

5. Audiobooks are books okay! Listening to an Audiobook is reading! If you think it’s not you are boring. I always have an Audiobook on the go. Sometimes more than one. But I really do struggle with fiction in this format - it has to be non-fiction, and preferably with the author doing the recitation, but of course there are some real pro voices out there for the narration, so whilst someone special reading can be a deal-maker, if it’s someone slightly less exciting that’s almost never a deal-breaker.

6. Laptop/iPad/iPhone - I have multiple tabs open on my computer and iPad almost always, and sometimes on my phone too…and it’s starting to feel like I might be as likely to get to some of the articles I’ve bookmarked as I am the books with actual bookmarks in them that I started five or six years ago.

7. Substack - it’s an app, it didn’t used to be, but now it is. And it’s a great place to find great writing, and communities, and I felt like I had to list it as its own thing (even though I access it via the above - Laptop/iPad/iPhone) because I’ve been turned onto so many great writers, and their publications via this app.

So that’s seven different ways that I read, seven different types of reading. Obviously within each there’s poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, and all sorts of themes and styles and rules and broken rules. But that’s seven different ways that I find words from pages, seven different was the words from pages find me.

Now for a recommendation from each.

1. From my own library of books I’m currently reading Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. I was supposed to start this a few months back, and I was supposed to rip through it over the summer break. It’s now my immediate focus - apart from, that is, when I’m working, or writing, or watching any of the TV or movies, or reading in any of the other ways I just listed, reading any of the other titles I’m just about to list…but, hey, I mean to finish reading it soon. (So far it’s great).

2. I’m reading Drumming at the Edge of Magic by Micky Hart at the moment. It’s due back very soon, so I’ll have to race through it this week. It’s right up my alley, a book about drums and drumming, a book about the mysticism inherent within the music. And it’s by one of the drummers from The Grateful Dead. I bloody love books by and about drummers. And I bloody love The Grateful Dead. But I recognise this is not for everyone, so I’m also reading Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz by Rheta Grimsley Johnson. Well, actually, I got halfway through it and returned it a while back - so I’ve just re-reserved it. It’s a great bio of the genius behind Peanuts. It might not be the best book on the market about Schulz and his world, but it’s charming enough, and was doing the business for me. And is probably a better recommend, all-around, than a hippie book about drums and drumming.

3. On my Kindle, I’m reading Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James. I actually started this way back, and forgot to carry on with it - and someone reminded me recently that it’s a ripper of a read and a totally wild book about an absolutely insane character. So when I got the new Kindle I bumped it back up the list.

4. Raising Hell: Backstage Tales from the Lives of Metal Legends by Jon Wiederhorn is one of a couple of Heavy Metal books I’ve borowed from a mate. It’s an oral history-type book, so easy to pick up and put down, read a few pages at a time, forget about it for a while, then go back to it. But I must knock this one on the head and return it. It’s been a fun part of the ‘background’ to me listening to a lot more metal lately.

5. On the Audiobook-front, I’ve got a few things I’ve dipped into, and will pop back (yet another book about Fleetwood Mac, a couple of books about The Beatles, a pro-wrestling bio, and a couple of books about movies) but the one that’s really resonating right now is Elvis Presley: The Man. The Life. The Legend. by Pamela Clarke Keogh. I wanted a wee refresher, a head of seeing the new film, Priscilla (which I loved!) I didn’t quite get all the way through this ahead of seeing a preview screening of the movie, but it’s been nice reminding myself of some of the biographical facts around Elvis and the world as he moved through it. I’d say this is a lightweight, but decent bio - great for a refresher, or a first easy dip into his wider world.

6. Linked In is fast becoming my favourite way to find new good online reads. And, yeah, I never thought I’d say that either.

7. I know I’ve mentioned The Honest Broker before, a Substack newsletter by Ted Gioia. But it really is great. So get on it, if you haven’t. But, to recommend something new in this medium, I’ll say that I’ve been enjoying Tusiata Avia’s foray into the world of Substack. She’s one of our great writers. Protect her, promote her, provide her with a part of her income (reminds me I must sign up fully as a paid subscriber…one sec…there. Done!) I’m also really enjoying her latest volume of poetry, Big Fat Brown Bitch. And there we go, we’re back around to recommendations of books from my library. We could be on a loop for days at this rate.

But there, I counted the way in which I read, the ways words find me. And some recommends from each different format or delivery-vehicle. How about you? How many different ways do you read?