Reading and Text

Ever since I was younger, reading was never one of my favorite things to do. I was always so busy with dance and being involved in school, that I never read many books. In my free time, I usually hung around with my family and friends, did homework, listened to music or when I was really young, played with my Barbie dolls. It was not until I was in high school, that I actually began to enjoy reading. I still do not read a lot of books in my spare time other then ones that are assigned, but many times when I am required to read a book for English class, I am usually interested in it.
Although I am a science major and love science and math kind of things, I am not a big fan when it comes time to reading text for class. I can never seem to really become interested in the reading and kind of just fly through it or skim the material in hopes that I will learn more in class. I guess overtime I have learned that reading the text is not always very beneficial and seems somewhat of a waste of time. Also, a lot of the material that is in the text is usually never discussed in class and can become fairly confusing. When it comes time to reading information such as the boring science text material or any real textbook, I feel that I am unable to comprehend the information well and I am reading the same sentence over and over again and still have no understanding of it. I think this is manly do to the fact that I am a lot more interested in reading novels or books that have a plot or main story line that I can relate to and show an interest in. If I become interested in a book, I have no problem taking the time to read it.
Throughout high school, I always read all of the required material, page for page and was never one of those people who spark noted or cliff noted the reading. If I ever went on the spark notes or cliff notes, it was to read the over view in hopes that I understood what I was reading. The only books that I really do not care to read and was forced to read in high school mainly took place in the future. Many futuristic books are not very interesting to me and many times I feel bored or confused when reading them. When I look back on all the books I had read in high school, I would have to say that My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult was by far the best book. For my senior English class, we were required to pick a book that was approved by the teacher and had to have at least one social issue illustrated in it as well as for filling other requirements. Then, we read the book over spring break and presented the book to the class in order to show the social issue as well as detail that we obtained from this issue so that the class could become familiar with situations that many or are affecting their lives. Although this book may never have been on the “senior reading list for high schools”, I felt that this book was not only interesting to read but it also fit right in with my interest in medicine and I was also able to apply many things to my life. If I have the chance this summer or over some break, I would love to read more of her books especially The Tenth Circle and Ninety Minutes.
When I first sit down to read a book, sometimes I look at the back of the book to become more familiar with what the book entails but many times I do not like to know much of anything. I always love suspense and would rather know nothing about the book before I read it so I can become surprised with ever new situation. I always have to read in extremely quite settings or else I become extremely ADD and always get distracted. I prefer, if at all possible, to sit in a more cushioning chair so I can just sit back and relax and enjoying reading the book. When I lived at home, I use to always go up to my bedroom and close the door and lay half up in my bed and continuously read for a long period of time. Well until I became tired or bored of a book and would fall asleep. Now that I am in college, I usually go to the library and have to sit in one of the wooden cubicles in Brill Library where I may not be as comfy but I seem to not get distracted much. Once I become interested in a book, I usually do not have a hard time focusing on the text and understanding it unless it is extremely hard to understand or the wording takes time to become familiar with. Many times when this happens, it takes me awhile to read the text and I usually go back over the same sentence a couple of times until I understand it. However if I am extremely interested in a book, I usually read pretty fast and can pick up pretty specific detail unless it is ridiculous detail that my junior year English teacher put on her tests like the middle name of a guy who was only mentioned ones. Sometimes while I am reading, I feel like I may interpret cinereous differently than other people but I am usually very opened minded when people talk about what they thought about the book or got out of it. When I have time to leisure read in the summer or over breaks when it is nice out, I can usually read with some noise like when I am laying out at the beach or on a cruise boat. Besides the fact of getting sand everywhere when you are lying down, I would have to say that reading on the beach is the most ideal place to become relaxed and enjoy a book.
Probably my favorite kind of text I encounter in everyday life would definitely have to be music. I love listening to many different types of music from Rap, country, and hip hop, all the way to Broadway musical sound tracks. I have always enjoyed music and lyrics ever since I was younger and always listen to music in the car, shower, running, or just relaxing. Music always seems to relax me and take stressful situations off of my mind. Music may have become a big part of my life when I became a dancer at the age of 4 because I began to appreciate it for what it is. I usually pick up on lyrics to songs pretty easily unless it is in some kind of rap or hip hop song that makes no sense at all and has no meaning. Although I am unable to listen to music when doing homework or studying because I cannot concentrate, I usually try to listen to it at least once a day. It is not always as easy to listen to now that I am in college since I am not driving to and from school every day and do not seem to have much free time, however I try to sneak some in every night. Although I love many different kinds of music, country (not hick country) and Broadway music is probably my favorite kind to listen to. I fell in love with country music when my mom use to listen to Shania Twain on the way to my dance competitions and also when I discovered Rascal Flatts. Broadways musicals have always been a pretty big part of my life considering I have seen at least 30 different shows in my life time. As the years go on, I hope I continue to appreciate all the different Broadway shows I have the chance to see and will continue to read leisurely when possible.