Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Speed reading
I've been asked to be on A Good Read on Radio 4. This involves first of all picking a book that you can talk about. Not as straightforward as you might think because the chances are that some other guest will have had it within the last few years. Then you have to read the books that the presenter and the other guest have chosen. Yesterday they arrived. I have a week to read two novels. I'm not used to reading against the clock. I have no techniques to deal with it. I could do to take some tips from those people you meet in book publishing who can read a new manuscript in a day.
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ReplyDeleteWhy don't you bring 'Revolutionary Road' with you? You did a very good job of persuading me to read it!
ReplyDeleteOn the speed reading issue - do what a lot of students do these days. Search for the book on Wikipedia and read what it says there!
I thought of "Revolutionary Road" but I decided to avoid anything too serious.
ReplyDeleteJust take the book with you, everywhere you go. Every time you have a spare couple of minutes, read another page or two. It's amazing how quickly these stack up. Forget speed reading, at least for this project. It's a technique that takes a while to develop, and I doubt you've time to both master speed reading AND read two books, all in a week!
ReplyDeleteFly somewhere distant and back, on daytime flights, on a carrier with no seat-back screens. Korean Air to Seoul would probably do the job. Amazing Gaultier-esque uniforms too.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the most carbon efficient method, nor the cheapest, I'll grant you.
Seriously, I'd treat this as work. Set aside time for it as you would any other item of work. Confine yourself to a quiet room with no distractions, and get reading.
You persuaded me to read 'Revolutionary Road' too. Although this situation, with the other guest & presenter only having a week to read, might not do it justice.
ReplyDeleteNo walking for you this week, David. (Unless you can get hold of an audio version...)
ReplyDeleteI've been on this programme. Claire Balding was the other guest. I made she and Sue MacGregor read Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut (which I re-read), and they made me read something by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toast by Nigel Slater. Neither were long books, and I'd read the latter, so it was something of a doddle. Really good fun.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest scrapping the morning walk and taking as many buses as possible but kb's audiobook idea is a tremendous notion.
ReplyDeleteOr.
Pick a slim volume of poetry?
Or.
Something by me! God knows I need the exposure!