One of the biggest reading conundrums I have is being in the middle of a perfect book, but afraid to enjoy it during the daytime. Why? Because what if I finish this perfectly cozy book and have nothing just right to read in bed??
I know I’m not the only one who sees bedtime and sleep as the ultimate daily reading destination, perfect for books and storytime. If you’re like me, you plan these bedtime travels to have as seamless a transition as possible from book-land to dreamland.
I select my pre-sleep reading specifically to have as much overlap between the activity of reading, and the activity of sleeping and dreaming. I love reading about characters who read a lot of books and are very tired, for example, and easily take a lot of naps. Like Murakami’s protagonists who often are on the road with a paperback or at home playing records, chatting with cats, and frequently falling asleep on the couch.
Murakami has written a lot of books, fortunately, but not enough for me to always-and-forever have some fresh sleepy dreamy bookworm nap-taking character to read about every night as I myself fall asleep. I have to rattion and stretch his books out, and read other dreamy writers. The problem this causes is I don’t want to “waste” any of his books by reading them on a Sunday afternoon, for example.
As much as I long to immerse myself in a rainy day of dreamy-book reading, I find myself hesitating for fear of running out of the good stuff I rely on for a perfect goodnight.
Take today, for example: I’m 36% through a beautiful bedtime book: Mina’s Matchbox, by another favorite Japanese writer: Yoko Ogawa. And today the moon is dark/new – the one day a month I try to reserve purely for resting in as much quiet solitude as possible.
Sticking to my dark-moon plan, I could easily, blissfully plow through a whole book or two or three. But then I would “run out” of reading for bedtime! So … I did not read Mina’s Matchbox straight through today. Instead I limited myself to a few chapters. Otherwise, what would I have to look forward to reading tonight?!? Who would I go to sleep with, if not Tomoko and her magical cousin Mina, Grandmother Rosa, elegant uncle, and alcoholic aunt? Where would I wind up if not in their Spanish-style mansion with a red tile roof (and bookshelves in every single room) set in lush gardens on an expansive private estate with pygmy hippopotamus Pochiko to ride on, off into the wonderland of dreams?
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Destination reading – this blog and the mission behind it – is about giving ourselves permission, encouragement & guidance to plan, prioritize, structure, invest in, anticipate, and enjoy our travels by book the same way many people do their physical travels, vacations, and time-off activities.
Just like people buy tickets to different destinations in winter than summer, and go out to different spots depending on the time of day, it makes sense as a reader who travels by book to pick a different title for a mid-week sick day when you’re at home isolated with COVID than a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee and the whole day ahead of you than a Sunday night in bed with an alarm set to wake you up early Monday morning. It’s okay, I think, to have bookmarks in multiple books at once and to travel into different bookish places within one week and even within just one day.
It’s not only acceptable, but considered really LIVING to be well-traveled. I believe the same can be said for traveling by book. Even if the result is not that you are considered well-read by literati standards, your life can be well-lived by exploring many different locations within books (or out in the world WITH books) daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonally.
Toward that end of living a life well-traveled by book, I’m going to practice better planning and preparation for different kinds of reading scenarios. Just as I would select and pack multiple books for an actual physical dream vacation (books for the plane, books by the pool, books just right for in bed with room service, etc.), I want to do the same for regular weeks at home. And that includes keeping a dreamy book always reserved for bedtime that is barely (if ever) checked into during the day.