Berlin – Easter is just around the corner. The holidays are coming – and with them, at least theoretically, a little bit of time. Time to breathe. Time, perhaps, for a book.
Theoretically.
Practically, social media tells me that I still have 123 books to read to keep up. And as I process this, I keep scrolling. Happy Easter. Somewhere on the internet, someone asks: “How do you manage to read so many books?” And then the internet answers. Someone is currently reading six books at the same time – two audiobooks, an e-book, a manga. Someone else listens to literature while jogging. At 1.5 times the speed, of course.
I sometimes drink coffee while reading. That’s my contribution to efficiency.
Books are like calories
It all started with Goodreads. The platform for book lovers introduced the “Reading Challenge” at some point: How many books can you manage this year? An innocent question. With devastating consequences. Suddenly there was this counting, this ticking off, this slight dizziness in October when you’re still twenty-three books away from your goal for the year. People have been reading strategically since then. Short novels as point boosters. Someone explained to me that he only reads novellas in Advent. Because of the statistics.
I looked at him like a man counting calories on vacation.
The answer is actually simple: Five books by Agatha Christie read faster than a single Thomas Mann. Someone who takes three months to read “War and Peace” has probably experienced more than someone who has breezed through twelve short novels in the same time. But that doesn’t count in any algorithm. There’s no trophy for it. No leaderboard.
Reading Books: Where’s the Pleasure?
And maybe that’s the real question of Easter – not how many books, but why at all. Easter is traditionally a time of new beginnings, of deceleration, of pausing. Easter is the time when Norwegians love crime novels. Now, of all times, the internet sends us reading lists. Now, of all times, we compare. Now, of all times, we ask: Where does the pleasure go?
A book is not a task. It’s an invitation – to linger, to pause, to read a sentence again because it simply strikes you. That’s the best thing reading can offer. And for that, you don’t need speed or statistics. Not even holidays. But they help.
Read as many books as you like. Or even less. Stop what you don’t like. Read the wrong genre. Read slowly. Put the book down and look out the window.
Happy Easter. That’s more than enough.
How do you feel about reading – are you still enjoying it, or has the counting already begun? I look forward to your opinion. You can find the contact information in the author’s profile. (str)
