Thots on "Words on Words"

I have been thinking for a couple of days now about Lynness' post re words and reading. I've even chatted with Ivan and Bill re the mechanics of our reading. I think that Lynness and my reading mechanics must be very different as I pretty much do everything she does not.

I realized, when I thought about it, that I do subvocalize a lot, depending on what I am reading. I almost always do it with nonfiction and in descriptive fiction. But in narrative fiction, I have a sort of "play" in my head and the words are instantaneously spoken by the characters. In spite of this, I am a fast reader. I never mouth the words and really don't think I subvocalize every word. I think I have been more aware of it since her post...almost annoyingly so!

I rarely shut out the world when I read and, in fact, love to multi-task when reading i.e. listen to music or television (news mostly or sports). I am always aware of my surroundings. Ivan, on the other hand, needs to shut himself out in order to hear the "narrator" in his mind. Bill can completely tune the world out for long periods of time.

I love to read nonfiction aloud and often do when no one else is in the house. I love to hear the words roll off my tongue. I rarely read fiction out loud. I especially love to read the scriptures out loud. I find it helps me to comprehend and remember what I have read. Again, I think it's the words that I love more than the actual reading process.

I learned to read partly in Preston, Idaho (I don't remember phonics there) and in Buffalo, New York. In NY the focus was entirely on phonics and dipthongs. I have been told that I read well because of that teaching focus. I have never had difficulty with spelling, although I still have some troublesome words that always plague me. Bill learned without phonics in California and often guesses at words when we read the scriptures out loud as a family. He wasn't encouraged apparently (I wasn't there...) to sound out any words, and so as he learns a new word, he simply memorizes it and adds it to his repertoire. He does comprehend quite well, but sometimes has to slow down and really pay attention to read aloud. Ivan is pretty much the same way...a fast reader when he is interested in something but not necessarily a confident reader out loud. He loves words, however, and enjoys using odd or old ones in conversation. His mind is like a steel trap and he remembers most of what he reads. I have to write things down to remember them. I visually remember where particular words or quotes are on a page and can tell you the basic plot or point of what I have read, but not necessarily all of the details...unless I was enthralled with the book.

Sometimes I feel the pressure to read. Because I list and annotate every book I read (annually), I start to pay more attention to the numbers than the material. Over a lifetime of reading, I average a book a week. However, the last six years or so, it has been two books a week, usually one nonfiction and one fiction. I am always reading five or six books at a time. When I feel the pressure to read, I settle my mind down and find something that I really want to savor. I purposely slow myself down and enjoy the process of reading itself.

I never wanted to take speed reading because I always felt I read fast enough already and if I read any faster it would change my whole purpose in reading...the focus would be on the speed rather than on the reading. I know that Matt took a class in college and used the technique for reading his textbooks. He rarely used it for anything else though.

I really think this is interesting. I don't know that I have ever examined my own reading mechanics before. Thank, Lynness, for opening the topic. I would be interested to know how the rest of you read and why you think that is.

Happy reading!