Sunday, April 22, 2007

How My Reading Habits Have Changed

Larry Ferlazzo passed on the meme asking about what magazines I read, and how my reading habits have changed over the last year.

First of all, my reading habits have changed a lot! I was actually thinking about that today and wondering if I should be sad about it. I used to read books, especially literary novels. I think the last one I read was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, which I loved. Now I have a couple of books started, including Snow by Orhan Pamuk, but I don't read extended texts the way I used to. I go through periods when I only read magazines, which I never used to do before. And the magazines I read have changed.

Larry mentioned the New Yorker. I used to read it, and my idea of a great vacation day is still sitting at the kitchen table or outside in the sun and reading the New Yorker from cover to cover, but I just don't have time to do it any more. I finally even quit subscribing. There are a lot of magazines I used to get that I don't get any more. The ones I still get are Newsweek, Cooking Light, and Wired. I love to see each one of them in my mailbox.

The magazines I read at work are Learning and Leading with Technology, and lately I've been finding good articles in Computers in Libraries (Librarians are getting into Second Life!)

There are tons of other publications that come across my desk and that I try to keep up with, including eSchool News. Also journals of professional organizations I belong to.

But the biggest change is that I listen to podcasts more than I read. I listen to TWiT and Buzz Out Loud to keep up with technology, and I just started listeing to EdTechTalk, a great podcast on ed tech topics. And then I listen to Fresh Air and This American Life, both of which I love, and a bunch of other ones about books and authors.

When I think about all there is to read, listen to, watch and learn, I want to quit work right now so I can absorb it all!

5 comments:

Larry Ferlazzo said...

Thanks for responding to my "tag," and thanks for the listserv note about my blog.

One of these days we'll meet!

Larry Ferlazzo

tinkerbellchime said...

Marian--It seems like everyone is reading less print nowadays. You mentioned podcasts. I haven't gotten into them, but I have some friends that are hooked.

I'm going to go back to your blog and follow a few of the links. The one on libraries looks worthy. Our Westminster library is just as crowded as ever. They have about 20 computers and every time I go there they are all being used and people are on a waiting list. The table set aside for laptops is also usually full. So, the internet has not made libraries obsolete. I just wish they had longer hours.

I'd like to give a shout out to GGUSD for allowing us adult ed teachers to check out laptops. I don't own one, so I'm thrilled. I know of four teachers on our campus who have already signed up and checked one out. They come loaded with programs, too. So thanks to GGUSD Director Nancy Fyson for supplying us with laptops that we can take home and use as needed.

The last book I read was Hitler's Women. Very, very interesting. A lot of conjecture, but the factual parts were just as fascinating.

Ingrid Greenberg said...

I still like to read print materials while I'm eating breakfast or just before going to bed. I try to read outside of technology and ESL to help keep my creative ideas flowing for curriculum development and for business/career development for my VESL students. I'm reading a great book about film screenwriting. I also just cashed in on airline points to subscribe to Variety magazine, the biz of Hollywood. Very interesting. And I like the Wall Street Journal for the headlines.

Marian Thacher said...

Ingrid -- OK, so what's the great book about screenwriting??
Thanks for visiting.
Marian

Anonymous said...

Marian,
It seems a trend...I'm reading more professional articles and less of anything recreational! A book, what's that? Everything is coming from a screen rather than a page: e-mails, listserves, blogs (like this one)...Who has time to pick up a book after a full day's work, daily chores and catching up on e-mail?
Ryan de la Vega