Sponsored by Flatiron Books.
We know perfectly well—we remember, even if dimly, the inward state that satisfies more than our itching, clicking fingers—and we know it isn’t here. Here, on the internet, is a nowhere space, a shallow time. It is a flat and impenetrable surface. But with a book, we dive in; we are sucked in; we are immersed, body and soul. “We hold in our hands a way to cut against the momentum of the times,” Birkerts assures. “We can resist the skimming tendency and delve; we can restore, if only for a time, the vanishing assumption of coherence. The beauty of the vertical engagement is that it does not have to argue for itself. It is self-contained, a fulfillment.”
Like all essays on digital life and reading, it’s a little stuffy, but on the whole, it’s a nice treatise on the power of immersive reading.
Eighteen people sprawl on the lawn of the Carlton Gardens on a lazy Sunday morning, as the sun filters through elegant poplar trees.
But this isn’t a picnic with wine and fried chicken. There’s no loud conversation or frisbee throwing.
The 17 women and one bloke travelled from across Melbourne purely to read.
At the STFU Reading Society’s monthly Silent Reading Party, you can read what you like. But one thing is strictly enforced: silence.
Purposefully following up the first link with this one. I want to start one of these!
Tom Gauld on how to deal with owning too many books.
#Relatable.
Source : Reading In The Age of Constant Distraction: Critical Linking, February 17, 2019
