Denise Raftery
2 Dec 2021 10:28 Andrew Prescott On reading in time and space
What a lovely, interesting man with a gorgeous turn of phrase
My transition from devoted print copy has been somewhat similar, slow, stubornly resistant and informed by “the outer man perishing”, including inability to carry heavy tomes!
I was brought back to times places and long hours of reading pleasure from childhood.
The local library was silent but so inviting! I can still feel the weight of Cecil Woodham-Smith’s ‘The Great Hunger’. I remember racing through all the Walter Macken books as well as Enid Blyton’s boarding school sagas. I can remember a summer job in a pop-up shop, punctuated by stolen moments in Margaret Mitchell‘s Gone with the Wind.
Newspapers were almost a currency in my childhood home. Grandfather to father to my mother was the pecking order. And they even had shares in The Irish Press. Revealing, I know! First task of the morning was the two-minute walk to the newsagent and back.
In the final years of my teaching career, I took to going for coffee in the early morning and availing of that free read of the Irish Independent and agree with Prescott this was more about ‘neutral brain’ than current affairs. I always preferred to start my days work without staffroom engagement. All other breaks and for hours after work I was sociable and available to all.
In Boole my habit during HDALGC was to visit the newspaper desks on first entry in the morning and skim read headlines and perhaps take a photo of an article I wanted to devote time to. Interestingly the pandemic broke my connection with daily news. I went on a total media fast as there was too much push with the information. I came out of Pandemic lockdowns with a new pattern, my newspaper fix and downtime, downtown coffee is on Saturday mornings! Sunday seems the obvious choice but I prefer not to give all the time that requires. The offer of free Irish Times feed that came with being in UCC has also been useful but I rarely use it these days, the emails are unopened more often than not.
I read non-fiction, articles and class work on my tablet. However, I often have a sense of urgency or resentment at the time involved, when I read in this manner. Perhaps on a train journey I can relax with tablet reading but only a book in a nice space will allow me to have a relaxed and extended read.
If I have downloaded from the library Borrow box I read the fiction on my phone but only if I have no physical book available to me. I don’t do e-readers or take tech, apart from the phone, on holidays. When abroad I love hotels with a good book section. I wonder will they all be gone when such trips return. If I get away any time soon, I will load the phone just in case! Qui sait? (Maupassant)
2 Dec 2021 10:50
What an interesting discussion thread with so many cross overs and generational nuances. D
