When I was 10 years old, my favorite place in the entire world was under a blanket fort, where I would read for hours on end. To my mother’s dismay, I would meticulously rearrange the living room to make space for my pillows and books in between the couch and ottoman. I was lost to a world that only words on a page could bring.
As my high school STEM courses increasingly demanded more of my time and attention, I found myself unwilling to read. I felt apathetic as I sped through books, eager to get to the practice sets I needed to finish. I didn’t take the time to digest every word, but rather skimmed the texts for points to analyze. Free time was limited, and I preferred to spend it with friends over focusing alone on a book — for leisure or class. What happened to the excitement I once had?
For Mia Ramirez Victorino ’29, class readings still bring joy. She loves being able to further engage with the text and author. For PBPL 5: “Introduction to Public Policy” she is reading Ezra Klein’s “Abundance,” an experience enhanced by the opportunity to see him speak at Dartmouth in April.
Yet class readings differ significantly. For Anthony Rivera Estrada ’29, the distinction comes down to the feeling attached to different types of reading — “work versus pleasure.”
“Most of my [history] reading is just guys speaking for 200 pages about Islamic caliphates, so philosophy is refreshing,” Rivera Estrada said. “It feels like a break to [read] fiction instead of just pure non-fiction or theory for other classes.”
Not all students have the time or inclination to read. For Issa Allison ’29, reading could become more engaging if it felt more communal, such as if there were “an encouraged book club for extra credit.” The problem now is the “denseness” of the material: “I can’t read fast enough,” he explained.
Oftentimes, the readings I enjoy most are fictional stories or mysteries that I could discuss with my friends afterward. Class texts like “The Great Gatsby” and “Hamlet” feel like an obligation, and not truly “reading.”
But then, what even is reading? Rivera Estrada argues that social media has complicated the answer by turning books into another “sense of performance.”
“If you read a book, in contrast to all the people scrolling on Instagram, it’s superior,” Rivera Estrada said. “Once it turns into this performance, trying to one up other people around you, that’s when it just stops being ‘reading.’”
For him, reading is most impactful? when it remains personal rather than performative.
“Personally, it [reading?] was entertaining and [an] escape,” he explained. “It’s up to the individual and what they’re getting from it.”
In the age of constant productivity, self-improvement books and reading as academic enrichment have become more mainstream. “Atomic Habits,” “The Let Them Theory” and various classics commonly read in literature classes have become popularized. The excitement of sharing recommendations, annotation guides or reviews create a community of readers on social media willing to read. But that’s not the whole story. Even obtaining physical books and sitting down to read for class can feel like an active effort. Allison pointed out how convenience has changed students’ relationships with books themselves.
“It’s a concept of working harder, but not smarter,” Allison said. “It’s easier to just get [books] online or through professor resources; why are you going to go your way to rent it from the library or buy it?”
The ease and convenience of artificial intelligence is undeniable. However, Rivera Estrada sees it less as a new problem and more as a continuation of old habits.
“[For] mandated readings, there’s always been a way to circumvent that — Spark Notes. It’s just modifying the way we cheat for that,” Rivera Estrada said.
Perhaps the deeper issue is the choice between reaching for a book or the instant gratification of scrolling for dopamine.
Wanting to know more about people’s reading habits, but not quite knowing where else to look, I turned to Fizz, of course. In response to my poll question, “Do you read for fun,” 1,301 students responded: 65% said “Yes,” while 35% said “No.” Fizz is hardly the gold standard of scientific research, but it paints enough of a picture to suggest that people still read outside of class — or at least want to think of themselves as the kind of people who do. But reading itself is isolating, and not everyone is willing to sit down in solitude for so long. Still, in its many genres and formats, each reader can choose to engage differently. One commenter said they read fantasy and sci-fi, while others read crime thrillers, Fredrick Backman’s contemporary fiction or listen to audiobooks. Finding the time in between your lectures, meetings or social events requires much more planning than sitting down for “Harry Potter” during elementary school reading time.
Amidst the demands of the quarter system, finding relatable or interesting short stories can make reading much more accessible. Ramirez Victorino finds comfort in stories that mirror her own life.
“I’m reading ‘The Adults,’ a coming of age novel about a girl who’s going to college for the first time,” Ramirez Victorino said. “It has a lot of parallels to what I’m experiencing right now.”
She says the simplicity of the novel makes it easier to return to, even during busy weeks.
“It’s a really light read, and even if I didn’t have the time to read it in one sitting, I can go back to it,” she said. “The story is easy to remember.”
Riverez Estrada is reading “An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter” after discovering it through a professor’s syllabus.
“It’s 100 pages long, and I started it last month,” he said. “I’m not done with it — I’m [taking] four courses this term. There’s no time to do it. When you have less reading-heavy classes, it would be nice.”
While the college freshmen balance academic and personal readings, incoming student Virginia Kraus ’30 separates the two distinctly. She approaches leisure reading as a way to disconnect from academics entirely.
“I like to get through a story in a couple of days, instead of trying to really turn it over in my mind [like for school readings],” Kraus said. “I read outside where I’m disconnected from my academic environment.”
Kraus said she also enjoys annotating, though she prefers doing so digitally.
“I typically [use] Notability, just so that I don’t have to buy [the book] and feel bad about annotating all over it,” Kraus said.
While Rivera Estrada doesn’t annotate, he borrows books from his friend who does.
“[It’s] like leaving your footprint on the book,” he said. “You get a sense of what they took away from the reading.”
Atop my bookshelf lies the special edition hardcover of my favorite book that I will never re-read, another book in a foreign language with translations scribbled in the margins, and many more collecting dust. I stare at them with a twinge of sadness. Perhaps location is the problem — I resent all the times I sat under the neon lights of the library or when I fell asleep under the fairy lights of my dorm. I long for a place where I could just focus.
Pine Park has become my comfort. Alone in the silence of the trees and away from class expectations, I find myself picking up my Kindle. Whether it’s an attempt to import my assigned readings onto the tiny device or get through a singular chapter of a short story on my massive to-be-read list, I look forward to reading atop the benches of the forest.
