Nothing gives Bryan the shudders like the shark book.
It’s not that he fears sharks. It’s that he fears seeing me reading this book for possibly the 100th time.
I suppose it’s a form of book OCD. I’ll read a book–and then I will read it again and again. And again. And again. And again. From the middle, towards the end, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just pick it and read it for a while.
I think it might have been originally triggered by the fact that I read insanely fast. You’re just on the fourth paragraph–I’ve finished the blog post. So in school, I got in the habit of rereading a book when I finished it.
Now, however, it’s a specifically nighttime phenomenon. At about 10.30 pm, I am in bed, and I am reading the same book I’ve read every night for the last 6 weeks.
Now, I like to have something fresh for my daily commute or for trips or just lying around on the couch. But as someone who loves to read but struggles with insomnia, it’s important that I don’t read anything too crazy before I turn off the light. I find reading helps settle my thoughts and soothes my brain. It’s practically impossible to go to sleep without reading something.
Specifically, without reading the same thing multiple times.
Why would it be soothing, you ask, to read a book about sharks (The Devil’s Teeth) or zombies (World War Z)? Well, these are clearly things that will never happen. I will never go anemone diving in shark-infested waters. I am not going whack off the head of a zombie. Total fantasy. Books like The Hours–with suicide, divorce, love, depression–would keep me awake all night. Better to go with the sharks.
It’s not a new phenomenon. After September 11, the only book I read for months before falling asleep was The Wind in the Willows.
Alas, most of my choices for self-soothing are not classy. For after hours of reading about St. Jerome and 14th-century art for my Master’s degree, the only book I could bear to read before falling asleep was Dark Mirror, a Star Trek novel. When I was going through a rough patch when I lived in Boston, I spent many, many evenings with the Children of the Jedi. I also reread Knife of Dreams more times than its author deserved (part of a huge, bloated fantasy saga–the author died 3 books out from the finish! The lesson? Stick to trilogies.).
There’s something about already knowing a books, its twists and turns, its characters and plot, that make a more restful experience. I’m not driven to finish the book, or start at the beginning. I suppose I am freed from the linear hold that have books have on us–freed to sink into whatever world will open the door to sleep.
