Enthusiasms: Reading For Pleasure
Recently I had the semi-horrifying realization that I haven’t enjoyed reading in recent months. I was thinking about the root of it, and it felt like it came from several sources. I read a lot for freelancing, and that’s not always finding an author and searching them out and enjoying their work; rather, it’s appraisal as to whether I can sell something on it, and whether I can dive into it. I read a lot for research on my own work, and that’s less a fictional plot driving me along and more exploring a world so that I can find sparks inside of it.
But the biggest realization as to why reading has become less of a pure pleasure to me came from a very long subway ride. Commuting on the subway hasn’t been pleasant for a long time, and reading while commuting just makes it party to the misery. What’s the solution, in this case? For me, it’s two-fold. Subway commuting is perfect for The New Yorker (which I do like, of course), because it’s long enough to be engrossing yet not so long that you’re feeling as if you’re dipping in and out of things.
Part two is a confession: I am, alas, getting into podcasts. But my podcast consumption is very specific. It consists, mostly, of podcasts featuring Jason Mantzoukas talking in some form or fashion, with his hilarious squeaky cartoon voice and his sensitive guy antics underneath some dirty guy peacocking. It’s entertaining enough, and for some reason most podcasts run about three hours even when it’s just people talking about stuff.
I am finding podcasts to be the perfect substitute for reading on the subway, and my slight ambivalence to the form is helpful, as well. It’s sort of like having friends talking at you and I have no need to check email or to read a mediocre website. I listened to podcasts for a trip that I took on Amtrak last winter, and it was kind of the tipping point, where I started to get why they’re taking over. It’s so easy to let them be a (generally mediocre) substitute for magazines and an easy substitute for books. They’re a good way to pass the time at this moment — nearly the only way if things keep cratering — but they have their place and for me they’re letting me put books in a different rung when it comes to what I like to do for pleasure and fun.
It’s been freeing to realize that reading for pleasure, sheer indulgent curiosity can happen, even if you have to regulate some of your modern 2019 habits. One thing that also made a difference (and tbh we all do it) was making sure to ban my phone from the bathroom - even if I’m trying to sneak out of something annoying just to send a text. Don’t do it! When you’re in the bathroom, just be. I swear it will change your life.
Recent writing: I went long over at GEN Magazine on the career pivot of Adam McKay in the 2010s, where he went from surrealist manchild joker to the angry explainer of current corruption. It was a glorious opportunity to write many words on The Other Guys, a film that I love so much that I own it and I have sent it as a gift to friends dealing with hard times. Sometimes I miss jokes, you know?
Thoughts: I feel so delinquent in “newslettering” compared to peers who tend to do this on a regular basis, with themes and ideas and everything. I like the idea of it but sometimes it just feels like more time trying to sell myself (for free) in a time when I would prefer to be working and thinking for money. And then it reminds me of feeling frustrated about where I am in some areas of my life — the millennial condition, you may say — and not quite clear about where to go from here. I want to figure out something, at least.
It’s also the end of the year so I am feeling soppy and sentimental one moment, proud and competitive the next, and numb and watching The Christmas Prince the other moment. Some of that is Prozac withdrawal, too, which is a whole other nutty story. But it’s fascinating to see your brain work in response to SSRIs and the journey back to an equilibrium is a real trip. Modern times are very strange.