Change

For most of my life, I could not have multiple books going at the same time. I could focus on one, and only one book, there could be absolutely no jumping back and forth between a couple. The only exception to this iron rule was textbooks, or required readings for school; somehow that was ok, to have a required book and a leisure book going on parallel tracks. But even that had its limits. If the required book was a work of literature, I couldn't have a second work of fiction for my leisure book, for example. It was this whole set of rules that seemed to just come embedded in my software. I didn't consciously choose them, I didn't understand them, yet I knew them to be inviolable.

I used to marvel at Enrico, who would have numerous books in process - heaped by the bedside, stacked in some inscrutable piling system on the bookshelves. He can set one aside for months at time and then come back to it. If I do that, I have to start again at the beginning, which is why I've never made it past 2 Chronicles in the Bible. Wait, which kingdom was Judah, again?

At some point, I changed. I now have sloping heaps of books by my bedside. A really good page-turner will still dominate my attention, but often I have a work of fiction; some nonfiction about a good cause or social ill, often something I can only take in limited doses lest my blood start to boil; and something soothing or reflective or spiritual to calm the humors right before sleep. If the fiction is heavy, I might need something wacky or feel-good to balance it out. If the nonfiction is heavy, I might need a good murder mystery. I require a balanced portfolio of reading options.

This is pretty much a complete turn-around in my reading personality. Is it just something that happens with age? Have my interests become broader? Has my attention span been shortened by the Internet? It seems very peculiar.