I need to start reading more bad books. I’ve been re-reading a lot of Iain (M.) Banks recently, which is what has led me to this conclusion. In particular, I’ve been re-reading Excession and The Crow Road, which are probably my two favourites, one from each genre. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved re-reading them. I got swept into the worlds again and followed the plots and characters with delight. Wherein lies the problem.
I do most of my reading on the train or in bed. And, I have decided, there is nothing worse than getting caught up in a good book, only to look up and realise that you’re at London Bridge station and have to get off the train and go to work. It’s just as well that the trains aren’t going any further than Charing Cross or Cannon Street or I might be tempted to stay on and keep reading. That’s not worth doing though, if you’re only going to be a mile or two further away from the office when the train stops in ten minutes’ time. If you were going to be 50 miles away and would be horribly late by the time you got back, instead of just a little, it might be worth doing.
Of course, I might be more keen to get to work if I hadn’t been reading till 1 a.m. Given that I’ve been doing that for about as long as I’ve been able to read though, I doubt that’s going to change any time soon.