Essay: How to read in a restless world

Did your New Year’s resolution include reading more? We’re still trying to read like we used to in the old times; this is true even of the digital natives who are beginning their reading lives in this new reality. There is an existing mode and discourse of reading – the only one we have – and everybody who reads, especially so-called “serious readers,” must get initiated into that mode. Reading as entertainment reached its peak during the Victorian age – especially of long books such as the novel, which eventually went from being a popular genre to the status of high art, unfortunately losing its popularity in the process. I think we need to accept that the way to read in an older world – with long, undivided attention, as a singular activity – won’t be available to us most of the time.