When you find a great book, take all the time you need to savor each page. Because you’ll surely come to finish the book, and let me tell you this: you are going to regret why you skimmed some parts or didn’t take more of your time on each page.
Read interesting parts twice or thrice just for the sake of enjoying reading. Pause and smile. Allow those whispers of tears that seem to want to come out to find their way. Liberate yourself.
Just like a good meal, in the final pages, when the author is summarizing or concluding the central theme of the book, you will lament that it has come to an end.
Oh, the pages you skimmed. Oh, you should have spent more time on now certain unforgettable chapters in your mind. You may think of going back to those chapters, but you already have ideas of what they entail, and so they won’t be as interesting this time.
The ideas are etched on your mind, but not the sweetness and joy you experienced when reading the chapters for the first time. The joy of the new dawn of knowledge in your realm.
In conclusion, you should have enjoyed that chapter while you were reading it for the first or second time. Again, just like a good meal, the potato chips are only sweet when you are hungry; once your hunger has been appeased, even if you buy another bunch, it won’t be as sweet.
I’m still regretful that I didn’t take enough time with Papyrus by Irene Vallejo earlier this year. But how much time is enough time? Regardless, I would have still come to the end of the book. Don’t I understand my Vipassana meditation teacher’s emphasis on the concept of anicca?
Oh, the idea is not not to finish the book, but to take as much needed time on each page as I possibly need, soaking in the knowledge and reflecting on the text.
That’s why grandma used to advise us to eat slowly when hungry. (Those pieces of advice fell on deaf ears. In retrospect, I regret not heeding the advice. But perhaps it’s too late – I have already read Papyrus.) To savor the sweetness of the food, not just fill our empty stomachs.
A great book leaves you disoriented. Look at me now. What title do I choose after just finishing How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization?
