Subvocalizing & Whole Language

I've been thinking about Lynness' post about words and reading too! Eric and I have talked about this a lot lately. In January he read a book about speed reading and is now very good at it. Like Matt, Eric uses it all the time for school but he also speed reads when he's reading for pleasure.

I haven't felt the need to change how I read, yet. I read fast and I know I subvocalize, just not all the time. Like Rae, I don't mouth the words. Quite often I notice when I'm subvocalizing. But I've found that it doesn't happen when I'm really drawn into a book (that is to say, I don't notice if I'm subvocalizing...although I'm probably still doing it). If I'm reading something that takes more effort, then I'm more likely to notice it. The other day I was noticing that when I read a line of text, I subvocalized the first half and then the second half was taken in at a glance. I think my brain gets tired of waiting and moves on. Sometimes I notice that as I read my mind will skip ahead and try to read a few lines if I'm subvocalizing a different line and then those two parts of my brain meet halfway. It's kind of strange and sometimes disconcerting.

Lynness, does Nathan speed-read when he's reading for leisure? I'd be interested in knowing if he feels like it's changed how he reads. I am curious and sometimes think about learning to speed read just to turn off that "subvocalizing monitor" in my head. But I wonder what things it might change.

I can relate to Rae & Lynness in many of the things they've said about when and how they read. I read everywhere too. I read a large-print version of The Daughter of Time a couple of weeks ago because it was all they had at the library and accidentally discovered that large-print books work great for reading while doing dishes! Lately I've even been reading while singing bedtime songs to Heidi. I wonder if that's an exercise in not subvocalizing? Can you subvocalize if you're singing at the same time? Sometimes it feels like I still am and other times I can tell I'm not.

I love shutting out the world when I read but I rarely do it. I did it all the time before having kids. Now I don't do it simply out of necessity. On occasion I'm able to indulge and really escape into a book when they're with Eric or asleep.

As I've been thinking about this, I've been thinking about how so many of us feel driven to read. It's so compelling that at times I struggle to balance my priorities. Any thoughts on how all of you balance this out, or attempt to?