Where do you find the time to read?

Jo Zebedee

Jo Zebedee

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blah - flags. So many flags.
Now, this might just be me. I have a busy, busy life. I have kids, a job, I write an inordinate amount, I'm busy, busy, busy, and my leisure time is pretty much at a premium. I also enjoy internetting - this forum and a couple of other sites - and ipading, games and whatnot. Which means I find finding time for reading can be hard.

Where I do fit it in:

In the car. I spend a lot of time waiting outside schools and brownie meetings and all sorts of places. I tend to bring my book with me instead of what I used to do which was surf on my phone.

In the bath. Am I the only one who does this? Now obviously I don't have a kindle...

Before bed. When I'm grainy eyed (I'm a nightbird), but I still usually fit a chapter in.

I manage to read about 3 books a month, more if I'm engrossed, doing this.

What about others? Do you struggle to find time? Has reading become eroded by things like tablets and the computers? Do you have any time put aside as reading time?
 
I kindle in the bath. I'm hardcore like that.
I read before bed, usually only 10 minutes before my eyes are conking out.
I used read during lectures :p but that's over now.

Since writing i've found reading time to be a lot less and do miss it.
 
I try to even things up with about 1 hour of Internet one hour of writing and one hour of reading.

I still work 8 hours and with travel time it can be as much as 10 hours out of the home so during the week 1 hour each is lucky though I sometimes squeeze in more. The Internet time can be wedged into lunch breaks and there are two other 15 min breaks that are allowed and I don't smoke so that leaves time open.

My children are all grown but there are the grandchildren. It sounds like you are wedging in as much time as possible with everything you have going on.

If I take a break from writing I will usually use that time to read. I'm not the fastest reader in the house but sometimes it does seem like we have races with that.
 
I get up early to practice yoga, but after breakfast I have about 45 minutes and I always read then. I use the kindle app on my computer to read a few pages during a break or whatnot. I also keep a book in my briefcase to read if I'm waiting somewhere and if I'm not too tired I'll read when I get in bed as well.
 
If you put the right gift code into Amazon, they'll include the time to read the book in the box it comes it. Very useful service.

I'm still one of those geeky kids who occasionally reads-and-walks. And I read on my half hour commute, and at odd moments, and before bed. An old flatmate of mine used to read in the shower, which I thought was hardcore.
 
A bath without a book is a wasted bath (though I did once drop a library book into the bath, and as I was only about 11 or 12 at the time, I was SO SCARED. They didn't notice its slightly fatter, more crinkled appearance, though). In fact, any trip into the bathroom needs a book (;)), otherwise I end up reading the shampoo bottles and they don't have much in the way of plot.

If I have a book on the go, I'll usually bring it into work and read it during my lunch break. Or on the bus if there's traffic.

If I really get into a book, or get into my reading mode, then it's more of a case of when do I fit in life while I'm reading... Those are the times where I can get through a stupid amount of books very quickly.
 
The last few books I've read have all been at night just before going to sleep.
 
Just before bed, in the bath and luckily we have a secondhand bookshop in my street with plenty of sci-fi, so I often get one of the old smaller-size paperbacks that fit into a back pocket and carry it around with me all the time.

This comes in handy when my wife is in a changing room trying things on. Or at boring social occasions.

I tried to read whilst walking, but stood in some dog sh*t.

I am always reading at least 4 books, currently:

Bedside drawer: By Light Alone (Adam Roberts)
Workbag: Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (edited by Brian Aldiss)
Car Dashboard: Downbelow Station (C.J. Cherryh)
Back Pocket: Our Friends from Frolix 8 (Phil K. Dick)
 
These days, I read whenever and wherever I can (although I must admit I've stopped reading in the bath now). I usually make time to read just before I go to bed, which sometimes leaves me a bit bleary eyed the next morning thanks to "just one more chapter".:)
 
Usually don't watch TV, don't go out for meals or movies, etc. and you'll probably have some reading time as well as time for your family.
 
I have difficulty finding the time to read fiction or try to write. I have quite a lot of reading and writing of non-fiction that I do for graduate school - add in work and I am doing very little with fiction whether it is reading or writing.

Edit: So I guess you could say I do get quite a lot done, it just is not fiction.
 
These days, if I am lucky, during a tea break and before bed. The last two weeks when I was on holiday and has as much as three hours read time before bed was luxurious!
 
Sometimes an issue for me. Not really the time, more that I spend so long staring at screens sometimes I don't want to stare at paper too. (In the past I've sometimes gone without gaming for weeks/months to read a lot).

I often read a chapter before bed.
 
I'm with Extollager and hardly watch any TV (maybe two/three programmes a week, usually documentaries) so my evenings are usually spent reading, and depending on how good the book is those evenings tend to extend to around 2am. And I read my eReader in the bath (if I'm not rereading my Asterix books there! :))
 
I read a lot at night while I'm waiting for the kids to fall asleep. I read a lot on weekends if I'm deep in a good story.

Sometimes I'll go for a week or two without picking up a book, then go on a reading binge where all else gets forgotten (my poor children!)...

If I'm deep in the middle of writing I don't read much at all; it gets in the way of my story telling. Then I binge-read a whole load before beginning edits.

I can always find time to read. It's watching TV I have a hard time with. Thanks goodness for DVR, so I can record stuff and watch when I find time!
 
The bath, well all time spend in bathroom, the bus on the way to work, walking even had the bruises to go with it. When I go bed. I've burned food, missed my stop all through reading. Think I've also mentioned before I didn't hear a fire alarm because I was so engrossed a book. Since winning the kindle at work I no longer carry books everywhere this has done wonders for the pain in my shoulder. Still read books at home the kindle is only for travelling.
 
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