Reading reading reading

I love reading, and I constantly see the argument that people make that there are other distractions that stop people reading now. I admit that the pull of Game of Thrones, or my own personal addiction: Outlander, is a tough one to resist. But invariably I notice that once I've actually picked up a book, I can kill hours!

The quality of the book definitely effects how likely I am to spend my time reading it. I proudly say at parties that I have a 50 page rule. But in truth, I do try to finish books once I start them, which often means that I take up far too long trying to get into the story and listlessly reading a few pages on the tube.

One reason I try to finish bad books is that I want to be able to review them, and what if they get good?! NEW RULE: Stick the the first 50 pages. If my reviews include: Didn't even finish it then we can assume that it failed in the first 50 pages. I hope that this will lead to me reading MORE because I will read better books.

I read for work constantly and at work I ruthlessly employ a first paragraph rule, if I'm not caught yet the story won't make the cut. Hopefully I can use the same rule with my personal reading and try to enjoy more of my books in a shorter time frame.

Reading for work vs reading for pleasure are two completely different things I think. At work it is almost exclusively on a screen, and the feel of a real book is completely different. There ought to be a scientific study done on people's brains when they're reading analytically vs for pleasure, I'm sure it lights up differently.

A question I get quite frequently is: if you read all day do you really want to read in your spare time?

On the one hand, if I had to continue to sit at a desk with a pencil and read, then NO. But a cosy chapter on the tube home and possibly another one tucked up in bed? Yes please. There ARE a lot of distractions which weren't there so much when I was at school, music, podcasts, tv, movies, netflix, twitter and facebook. But nothing beats curling up with a book and beverage surrounded by books, and empty mugs to read long into the night... or the first 50 pages, which ever comes first.