How Living with No Internet or Television Lead to a Rediscovered Love of Books

In an increasing digital age, we may have to venture back to elementary school tactics in finding an intimacy with the paperbacks. 

I don’t know about you, but I was a “troublesome” pupil when it came to reading time in my elementary school years. I can distinctly remember the stereotypical carpeted section of every classroom with the milk-crates full of books. And every afternoon, following snack time, we were expected to pick a book and read for however many odd minutes a day- the amount increasing with each grade level, but universally always feeling like an eternity.

And being a public school student under the “No Child Left Behind” era of education, I remember year-after-year testing to determine our school’s progress and subsequently the federal funding we would receive. Every year was the same pattern of being placed in divided reading groups within the class. The classification levels were identified from colors, like green team, blue, etc, or animals like giraffes, bears, sloths…

[I kid you not, one was team sloths…]

And despite my teachers always acting like these groups were pulled at random, it didn’t take an “honor roll student” to figure out that it was based on our individual reading ability. And I can distinctly recall in third grade being placed somewhere in the bottom group, (i.e. a sloth , the ‘slower, non-chapter-books’ group.)

And it may have been for good reason. I did not enjoy reading. I did love stories though. My grandmother, who came over every Wednesday to cook dinner for all us grandkids, would tell elaborate, original bedtime stories every week. But when it came to reading time, I just couldn’t find anything that interested me. I may have had a learning disability, I don’t know, but what I do remember is one day, I pulled a book from a different reading group’s basket. It was a chapter book, which I wasn’t suppose to be reading in my level. It caught my attention because I heard another classmate talking about it. It was in a series about a girl, Cam, and her friend, Eric, who solved mysteries by using Cam’s photographic memory.

I know it now as the Cam Jansen mystery series by author, David Adler. Even after all these years, I remember these books and many of the various stories- like one about a UFO, or a stolen baseball card. These books created a moment that occurs for many avid book lovers: I had found my “literary niche.” From then on, my teachers always commented on how my face was buried in these books. During in-door recess, instead of playing Connect-Four, I’d be reading, and it got to the point where I’d get in trouble for hiding a book in my lap (kind of this generations’ equivalent of hiding iphones) during other subject’s lecture time.

After average-to-below-average grades in elementary school, in fifth grade, the final quarter of the year, I received my first “honor roll” certificate (meaning all letter grades of ‘A’s and B’s.’) And then in sixth grade I received honor roll for the entire year and competed on the school’s scholastics readers team. On to middle school, I continued making honor roll, only missing one quarter and that then lead to me taking several AP classes throughout high-school. Sure, there were definitely many other variables, (I had some amazing teachers in 5th & 6th grade, teachers that won the Presidential Teachers Award and went on to get PhDs) but I’m very fastened on the notion that these books and finding my literary niche lead to all of that.

[It also goes to show that testing reading levels with state sanctioned “progressing testing” every year did not test reading ability, but test taking ability. But’s that a subject for another post.]

Fast forward to present day, while working towards my undergrad, I feel I do the standard amounts of academic reading of textbooks (well, most of the time…) (and hey, I click the links on twitter to read articles- Buzzfeed counts, rights?)

And in all subjective accords, I considered myself an average, if not above average reader. It wasn’t until this summer and this past fall semester that I grew embarrassed for my previous levels of reading intake. My living situation this term had concurred stipulations (due to finances) of no television or cable (which was fine, because, in this day and age I watch everything on computer, anyway) but, also included limited internet access (basically only checking email, Facebook skimming and news events reading, but no Youtube or Netflix.)

In order to do homework, I became your typical coffeeshop academic (which was fine, I prefer to work outside of the places from where I “live.”) But, using coffeeshop wifi meant the continued ‘no Netflix or “Daily Show” reruns.’ So, to fill the entertainment void, I began listening to half a dozen or so podcasts, like NPR’s “This American Life” and “Radiolab,” to a bunch of storytelling ones like “The Moth,” “2nd Story,” and “RISK.” (Going back to that love of Wednesday night bedtime stories from grandma…)

And with the podcasts, I began reading much more than I ever have. And it opened my eyes to the fact that I, once again, had to rediscover my literary niche- which, thankfully, had evolved a lot from my Cam Jansen days. I once again found subject matters and authors that I just couldn’t put down, even if it was 3am and I had a 8am midterm…

Also, for the first time in my life, I found a love for nonfiction. I never would have thought I’d be interested in reading about people’s lives (I wanted mind blowing mysteries or edge-of-seat gripping thrillers,) but some of my new favorite authors are great creative nonfiction/ essayists like: David Foster Wallace and his “Consider the Lobster” & “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” or Joan Didion’s “Magical Thinking,” Augusten Burroughs “Running With Scissors” & “Possible Side Effects,” and just about everything by David Sedaris.

And discovering these authors has caused some minor chaos in my life, in that, I now have taken on a double major which now includes creative nonfiction, a move directly relating to the discovering of these authors/written works.

Looking back, yeah there’s a few TV shows I miss not having at the click of a mouse (Breaking Bad, LOST, House of Cards, etc) but the vast amounts of time I spent watching shitty shows was embarrassing and now I am intentionally continuing to live without complete internet access.

And when it comes to finding your “literary niche,” just remember to find what you like. A few weeks ago I was embarrassed to be digging though the Young Adult Ficiton section at my local bookstore because I had some self created assumption that reading YA fiction was frowned upon for a “serious reader…” Well, F that thinking.

If you find graphic novels to be your thing, well heehaw! “Hunger Games trilogy?” Awesome! “East of Eden?” Go for it! Maybe some novellas like “Flowers for Algernon” or “Animal Farm?” Make it happen captain! Hell, read some erotica if it gets your heart pumping to read more. (Double entendre there…)

So yeah, get at it. Reach into the other “reading groups’ basket”- don’t let outside or self-made barriers get in your way. As for me, I think I’ll wrap it up here, I got some reading to do.

“Sloth” reading group for life!