How I Read

The other day when we read Siddhartha Chapter 4 one passage really struck me: "When anyone reads anything which he wishes to study, he does not despise the letters and punctuation marks, and call them illusion, chance and worthless shells, but he reads them, he studies them and loves them, letter by letter" (32). When I read this passage it hit me. This passage perfectly describes how I read. I am not a fast reader. I never have been and I probably never will be. I know lots of strategies to speed up my reading, but I don't like using them. When I read I like to feel each word, clause, sentence. I like each word to fill my mouth, to fully feel each aspect of the punctuation. That's what makes reading enjoyable. So, I suppose when I'm reading a text book I can use all those speed-up strategies where you read phrases and use your finger as a pacer, but not when I read prose. Nope. Because in prose each individual word deserves attention.