Autumn is inching its lazy way toward us
Autumn is inching its lazy way toward us, with its earth tones and cool mists and gourds and cinnamon-flavoured everythings, and if you’re like me, you’re dreading those tenebrous, sleepy mornings. Getting up for work or school, maybe you have a train or a bus to catch, bundled in enough layers to intimidate an onion. These mornings can feel like you’re moving against the wind – there’s so much resistance in the air – but it’s not in the air, it’s in you. It’s the weight of fatigue, of braving the dawn before the dawn, which we humans aren’t designed to do. It’s the weight of going against nature. It’s in your bones.
But then, you’re on the train, or the bus, or in the car, the office, the lecture hall, head resting against the window or a friend’s shoulder, and you see the first ray of light. The kids have a sparkle in their eyes, your book just got interesting, you remembered to pack a canister of coffee, and you’re on your way. Yolk seeps in amber over the fields. You might hear the sheep bleating to greet the new day. Everything is warmer; everything is going to be alright.
Back to school. It’s September, folks. Have you read much over the past season? If you’re a student, young or mature, are you working your way through your syllabus? Personally, I (Sonny) have found it far too hot this summer to get into the books I’m meant to be reading for my first semester back. Nine on the curriculum, and I’ve read (drumroll) …one. And a bit. One and a bit. I’m trying, okay? I’m all liquid in a heatwave.
You might be in a similar position, feeling like you could have, or should have, read more over the summer.
The solution? A personal curriculum. You might have seen these doing the rounds on social media, bookish YouTube channels and Instagram accounts designing their own timetables and literary programs. They set goals: to read more books in translation, more by women, more LGBTQ+ books, more memoirs, more about history, culture, art, or philosophy, or simply to read more books that inspire rest and relaxation, then create a reading list. The key is manageable goals. Don’t go creating an extensive list of books to read before October if you know you’re a slow reader. What matters when the moon rounds isn’t how much you’ve read, but what you take away.
To that end, consider setting yourself an assignment: a presentation, a short essay, even a conversation with a friend in which you just info-dump what you’ve learned. The point of a personal curriculum is not to read more in volume, but to read with intention. If your goal is to read more in translation, ask yourself: what do books in other languages have to offer? Consider structure, formula, philosophy… how do they differ from what you normally read? What are they telling you? Ask yourself what you hope to gain from your nonfiction reads; how much can you put into your own words? When you regurgitate information, you’re like a parental bird: empty, hungry. You need to digest. Put on a little literary winter weight to carry you through the cold. It’s nearly autumn, and we must enrich our lives with the warmth and pleasure of reading as much as we can.
What are your reading goals? Come and tell us while the air’s still warm. We’re excited to hear them!
