A scrolling world

by chuckofish

You may have noticed that I have been trying to read real books lately. I was shocked to realize that, indeed, I read very few entire books in 2024. Part of that is because most contemporary fiction is not worth the effort, and part of it is because I cannot read at bedtime because I fall asleep.

Well, I have given myself permission to read during the day–a silly thing, but it is something I struggle with. I am retired, I tell myself. I can do what I want. I do not have to be particularly “productive”.

But some of it, I must admit, is because I have a hard time focusing on reading. Obviously, this is not just my problem. This about reading in a scrolling world is pertinent to what a lot of us are feeling. Brain rot is real.

Well, I did read through the Bible for the third year in a row, so I can pat myself on the back for that. Right now, in my 5x5x5 NT reading plan, I am in the book of Acts, and Stephen–whose “face is like the face of an angel”–is about to be martyred. Sela.

The Grammy Awards are as out of touch as anything else these days, but the Americana genre keeps producing some interesting artists, including this year’s big winner, Sierra Ferrell…

So take heart, put your phone away, read a book!

“Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”

–William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing