Thing #16

I have to make an embarassing confession: I have never liked reading.  It all goes back to when I was a child.  I have always been a slow reader, which made me anxious whenever I was called upon to read in front of the class.  Years of being a slow reader but having to read fast contributed to my horrible reading comprehension skills.  And, then there was the Accelerated Reader program, the ridiculous reading program intended to increase students’ exposure to books and their love of reading.  In reality, it rewards students who read fast and damages those who read slowly.  So, by the time I was one month into the accelerated reader program, I made a revelation: I stink at reading, and I hate it.

I was an overachieving student, so I refused to let my reading disability get the better of me.  I spent my middle school years staying up until the middle of the night reading my AR books, and I learned how to work around my reading issues to excel in high school AP English and college English classes.  But, I never read for fun.  And, that’s pretty much the case now.

I’ve always believed that the love of reading was part of being “smart,” so I’m ashamed of and embarassed by my reading issues.  I suppose my husband and I are evidence of the “opposites attract” concept in this regard, because he is the biggest reader I know.  I have always admired, appreciated, and not quite understood that quality of his.  Anyway…

All of that is to say that when I saw that this week’s Thing was about “Library Thing,” I broke into a cold sweat and felt a flashback to sitting in front of that AR screen in 7th grade, trying my best to remember the details of the book I finished at 3 A.M. the night before, knowing that keeping my 100 average in Language Arts depended upon my performance on this one, stupid reading quiz.

After getting over the hives that were breaking out on my arms and legs, I explored Library Thing and found it to be interesting and neat.  I wish I had a personal library of books that I could create online.  But, since I don’t…I’m not sure how useful Library Thing would be for me at home.  My husband, on the other hand, would love it.  It would help him keep track of what books he has already read so that he won’t come home with the same Thomas Jefferson biography again.  In my math classroom, I cannot really see any applications of Library Thing.  If I taught English, Literature, or History, perhaps it would be useful.  I remain open-minded, if anyone else can give me good suggestions.