I'd Rather Be Reading . . .

 In which I consider a few typical day-to-day activities and ask myself, 'Would I rather be reading?'

This post is purely for the lulz, baby! I just take a few everyday activities, and then I ask myself, 'Would I rather be reading?'

So, let's crack on, shall we? I imagine we all have better things to be getting on with . . .

1. Sleeping

I do fight off sleep if I can when I am in the middle of a chapter and my eyelids begin to feel weighted. I am not the sort to stick a bookmark in the middle of a chapter. In fact, generally, I always finish a chapter once I have started it unless there are circumstances beyond my control which keep me from doing so. Death, illness, a natural disaster. Things like that . . . 

I would rather be reading. But, I am not quite at the point where I am keeping my eyes open with match sticks a la The Clockwork Orange to stave off sleep and read more.

2. Showering

When a reader has the opportunity, they should always pick a bath over a shower! You can read in the bath. You cannot read in the shower. You will have to trust me on that one . . . However, because of time constraints and because the shower is more environmentally friendly, a shower is, more often than not the preferred option.

If I say that I would rather be reading, you might think me rather disgusting (and be thankful that you are receiving my thoughts via the words on a screen, rather than face-to-face), but I assure you that I shower often and do not forsake personal hygiene for personal pleasure. Well . . . we all have pyjama days, right? I like to read in the bath if I can - I will take that over a shower ideally!

3. Watching a film/TV 

As book readers we have all said it - "I preferred the book". Still, there are times when I feel the need to relax in front of the television and lose myself in a good sitcom, drama, or documentary. I have my Netflix account just like everyone else and there are evenings when I've found myself saying, "Oh, just one more episode", knowing full well it will probably be about two more episodes. Maybe three.

I find myself watching less films as I get older. I don't know why. I think it's because of the time asked of me - a film of about an hour and a half plus runs the risk of losing my attention these days. However, I am still quite happy to immerse myself into a book for as long as it takes. So, all in all, I would rather be reading.

4. Eating

Like tiredness, I will ignore hunger to finish the chapter that I am reading. Sorry, body. That's just how I roll. I mean, what am I supposed to do, run the risk of getting stains on the pages? Put the book down? Pfft. You don't know me too well, do you?

This is a tricky one because I do like food. However, like I said I will ignore hunger . . . Plus, I am more likely to spend money in a bookshop (when I have money) than I am to spend it in a restaurant. So, yeah, I would rather be reading.

5. Sex

Sometimes men don't want to have sex. I know, right! But, it's true. Sometimes, we would rather be reading. Well, I would anyway. Also, with this entry I am stretching the term "day-to-day activities" here. For myself anyway. Without getting into it too much, I am pretty confident that I can go without this for significant stretches of time . . . We have been in the middle of a global pandemic for about a year now, so, there's that . . .

Anyway . . .

I would probably give up sex first before books but, who am I kidding, under the right circumstances, the book would fall to the floor and be forgotten about pretty quickly for this one.

6. Socialising

I love to see family, and I love to see friends, and I love to exchange messages with good and decent people. However, the parties that I find myself attending through little to no agency of my own - yeah, I might be considering whether or not I can sneak off to a relatively unpopulated area to catch up on my reading. And, just as a heads up, I do usually have a book about my person . . .

If it is good company, I can let my book go. If it's a party where I might be expected to socialise with people I don't know or have little in common with, I would probably rather be reading.

So, from this brief list, I can safely say, I would probably rather be reading or, if not that, accommodating reading into the experience.

I don't whether I should be proud of that or not. Probably not.

Anyway. Be nice. Be kind. Read lots. Listen to music. And, do you, everyone else is taken, as Oscar Wilde sort of said!