Choices

When I was little, my dad subscribed to Time magazine. I used to look through it and wonder why anyone would read it. There were so many words, so close together with tiny print, and the articles all sounded extremely boring. The only interesting part to my twelve-year brain was the “Milestones” section, which listed which movie stars had gotten married, divorced, or had died. I much preferred reading my fiction chapter books.

Last summer, in order to keep my (not-so) frequent flyer miles account, I was encouraged by the airline to subscribe to a magazine (using up some of my miles, but keeping my account active). I saw Time magazine listed as one of the magazine choices and, being a responsible adult, decided to subscribe to it. I thought it would look like I really knew what’s going on in the world if Time magazine was sitting on my coffee table.

Imagine my surprise when I glanced through my first copy of Time magazine and one of the articles actually caught my attention. I sat down and started reading. And I enjoyed it! “I really must be a grown up,” was my first thought. I kept the magazine on the nightstand beside my bed and read a little bit before falling to sleep each night. It was wonderful. I read every single article and finished the entire issue by the following Friday, which is when I received the next issue. That’s when the problem began.

Do you know how often a weekly magazine is delivered? Every single week. Just when you’ve (hopefully) finished the previous issue. Which is great if you don’t plan to read anything else. I’ve spent the entire first semester this year trying to “get ahead” with my Time magazine so I can finish it before the next one comes. I need to read a little every night to finish before the next one arrives. Once you’re behind, good luck catching up again. (And I have to read every article or it doesn’t count.)

The problem is, although I feel more knowledgeable about the world, I don’t have time to read any books. And I love reading books. I don’t love reading Time magazine. I read it because it comes in the mail; it’s an obligation.

So my dilemma is, do I continue reading Time? Or do I give it up and go back to reading real books. Here’s a picture of my two choices. Which pile would you pick?

(Here’s my decision: I’m on page 252 of Jodi Piccoult’s book.) And very happy!