Every Little Word
By Karen Krueger

My husband reads at warp speed. He flips through two or three pages for every one of mine. It's fairly annoying. The quiet swish of each of his pages turning loudly reminds me of my dawdling pace. My competitive nature kicks in and I silently wish I could read faster.

I used to think there was something wrong with me. That I was stupid because I read slowly. That my inability to devour a 300 page book in a day somehow qualified me for a remedial reading class. I wanted to read faster but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t my style. There were just too many words worth pausing at and saying in my mind a time or two. Phrases with meanings that would have been lost had I scurried over them.

Not so long ago a conversation with a friend turned to books. She seems to be reading a different one every few days, so I asked, “How do you do read so many books?”  I knew what her reply would be - she was a fast reader.

I told her I was a slow reader. She looked puzzled. “What do you do, read EVERY word or what?”

Defensively I answered, “Well…Yes, I do in fact.” And why not? Those words were thoughtfully chosen by someone and arranged in careful order so as to create an image. Skimming them just doesn’t seem fair. Missing a word or two here or there could change the whole meaning of the text. It would be like erasing part of a painting. Stripping away important details and leaving only a shadow of what could or should have been a more beautiful picture.

“I don’t read all the words,” she continued. “It takes too much time and you don’t need to read every word to get the gist of the story. You can leave little words out and still understand the book.”

I don't know? Leaving out even the smallest of words can change entire meanings.“ Let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.” –Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. Leave out one tiny word like “not” and it reads; Let us to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. It quickly turns from a wedding vow to a divorce decree by the omission of only three letters. What William had in mind? I doubt it.

Oh, I suppose I could adopt the skim and turn method of reading. I could breeze through chapter after chapter missing entire sentences that might lend me an insight into the character, the author or, even myself. And I could devour book upon book. Racing against time to read those “so many books in so little time.” I'm just not in that big of a hurry to get to the next book at the expense of the one I am currently reading. I can't give up quality for quantity.

So, I guess I'll have to tuck my competitive nature away and quit trying to keep up with the Evelyn Woods graduate swishing pages at the speed of light, and I will try not to notice that my friend is reading a new book every time I see her. I'll just continue to stroll my way, instead of jogging through, my books. I'm going to pause when I feel like it. Read sentences three and four times, taking in the fullness of their meaning. Say words out loud, simply for the way they feel falling off my tongue and I will comfort myself in knowing that there are so many books and I will read them. But in MY time.