When I was much younger, i.e. secondary school days, I could finish a novel in 1 1/2 hours or 2 hours max. Sweet Valley High, Famous Five, Hardy Boys, are just some of the many series I used to read. Then I moved on to more grown up authors, such as John Grisham, Michael Crichton etc. Ranging from 300-500 page per book, reading used to be such a leisurely thing.

Until now. Medical school spoilt my reading habits and skills. Not to mention working life.

I’ve been trying to read this book I bought in Australia 2 years ago entitled Misconceptions by Terry McGee. A wonderful and gripping storyline about medical malpractice  and a messed up family and social life; except the fact that I’ve been reading it for the past say, 2 weeks, and have yet to finish the 462 pages in that book. Not to mention the 3 weeks I took to finish reading Playing for Pizza by John Grisham.

My attention span has currently been reduced to 5 minutes per session. I have to keep re-reading the same lines each time I restart, because I can barely remember where I last stopped. Sometimes, I even forget the first half of the story by the time I reach the middle of the book.

A comment by my colleague sort of enlightened me recently. Actually it was an observation from her friend as she was more into non-fiction and spiritual books so when her friend lent her a novel, she took forever to read it, and never even finished it. According to her friend, you’re not supposed to read every single word in the novel. Just skim past the storyline, stop and read in detail the interesting parts, and skim through the rest. Simple.

That got me thinking. Perhaps when I was younger, I was happily “skimming” through the books I read, but after med school where every word matters and all that crap, I can no longer read a novel as a leisurely thing, and because I am trying to read every single word in the novel and process it like a studying material, it has made reading so so slow for me, and also taken the joy out of cramming in a novel just before bedtime.

Anyway, I am trying to regain my skills of light reading, and hopefully, I’ll be able to get back in form or at least something near it in the near future. Haha.