Booking Through Thursday: Goldilocks

Okay, so the other day, a friend was commenting on my monthly reading list and asked when I found the time to read. In the ensuing discussion, she described herself as a “goldilocks” when it comes to reading – she needs to have everything juuuuuust right to be able to focus. This caught my attention because, first, I thought that was a charming way of describing the condition, but, two, while we’ve talked about our reading habits, this is an interesting wrinkle. I’d never really thought about it that way.

So, this is my question to you – are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital - as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

Goldilocks? Me? *ROTFL* I don’t read while showering, walking, or in a lab class (no matter how much time I have to spend waiting for things to finish centrifuging). Other than that, as long as I have enough time to read a few paragraphs I’ll dive right in. I will happily read in anything from silence to the chaos of a class full of undergrads in a mid-lecture break, or a peak-hour train. I’ve become very good at tuning out background noise so it doesn’t bother me; reading actually helps in the tuning-out process. Good on the train, not so good when my mum is telling me to do something (which needless to say is unlikely to get done without a degree of nagging)!