Talking Heads – "The Book I Read" (1977)

I’m writing about the book I read

I have to sing about the book I read

Last Sunday, I did something I haven’t done in years: I read an entire book in one day.

The book was the 421-page The Law of Innocence, the latest in Michael Connelly’s “Lincoln Lawyer” series of murder mysteries.  I don’t remember enjoying a crime novel so much in years.  

That was partly because it was a very compelling novel – all of Connelly’s books are excellent, but this one was unusually good – and partly because I finished it in a single day instead of reading it in bits and pieces over the course of several days, which is how I usually read a book.

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I used to read entire books straight through all the time.  (I don’t mean “straight through” literally – I would take short breaks to eat or visit the little boys’ room.) 

I remember reading Scott Turow’s first best-selling courtroom novel, Presumed Innocent, while travelling on an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut, to Washington, DC.  That train ride took roughly seven hours, which was just enough time for me to read a 448-page book if I didn’t take any breaks.

That was in 1987 or 1988.  I may have read a few relatively short books in a single day since then, but I don’t think I’ve read a book that’s as long as The Law of Innocence since then.

I didn’t read The Law of Innocence straight through – I took a break for a bike ride after lunch, and then watched a movie on Netflix after dinner before reading the last few chapters – but I could have if I had wanted to.

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Reading is my default activity – it’s what I do unless I’m doing something else that prevents me from reading.

Before I retired, I used to read on my half-hour subway rides to and from my downtown law office.  (I missed my stop a few times because I got so engrossed in my book.)  

I also read when I’m eating a meal – assuming I’m dining solo, of course.

A lot of people read on the subway and while eating.  But how many people take a book with them when they have to the kids off at the pool?  I do.

(TMI?)

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Reading was my primary activity when I was a kid – I think I probably spent more time reading than I spent watching television or listening to the local top-40 radio station.  (There wasn’t a lot else for a tween to do in Joplin, Missouri, circa 1965.)

Our public library allowed you to check out a maximum of six books at a time.  In the summer, I would often read all six books in a single day – two or three days at most – and head back to the library to reload.

The Joplin Public Library

Of course, I wasn’t reading adult books.  But I wasn’t reading picture books either – I think that most of the juvenile novels or biographies or history books that I read when I was 12 or 13 were maybe 150 or 200 pages long, with relatively few illustrations.  I could go through a book like that in an hour or two.  

I used to think of myself as a fast reader, but my speed was really attributable to the fact that I was a focused reader – I didn’t get distracted or let my mind wander.  

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The reason that I started reading books in small pieces over several days rather than going start to finish without a break is that I couldn’t concentrate for as long when I got older.  So I’d just read two or three chapters and call it a day.

I also think there came a point in my life where I felt guilty if I spent the whole day reading.  It seemed self-indulgent – I felt that I should be accomplishing other things instead of just sitting around and reading.  (When my kids lived at home, I needed to pay some attention to them.)

I not only had time to read last Sunday, but was also in the mood to do so – so I just sat down and read from 1030a to 1230p without looking up.  That took me almost to the halfway point of The Law of Innocence. 

At that point I knew I was going to finish the book by the end of the day.  I almost put the book aside because I wanted it to last at least two days – or even three – it was that good.

But for whatever reason, I just let myself keep going on Sunday.

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Reading a book straight through – especially a crime novel – is much more satisfying than reading small portions of it over several days.  

You retain plot details much better – you don’t get confused and have to go paging back through the part of the book you’ve already read to remind yourself of what happened earlier.

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I knew I was really into the Connelly book because I didn’t ever get drowsy while reading it.

When I sit down to read these days, I usually doze off within half an hour or so – sometimes even more quickly.

I remember having trouble keeping my eyes open in some of my law school classes – after law school, it was sometimes a struggle for me to stay fully awake in work meetings, in church, etc.  

In part that was because I got bored, but the main reason was probably undiagnosed sleep apnea.

I don’t know when my sleep apnea began.  I don’t remember nodding off in my college classes.  I put on some weight during my law school years, although I was still pretty thin – but that weight gain may have exacerbated some structural conditions (like a deviated septum) that made me prone to snoring and sleep apnea.

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I didn’t notice a dramatic difference even after my sleep apnea was diagnosed and I started sleeping with a CPAP machine – although I’m sure it helped me sleep more deeply to some degree.  (A lawyer I worked with told me he was amazed by the difference his CPAP machine made in the quality of his sleep – my experience wasn’t like his.)

Maybe I still nod off while reading because I go to bed too late – my usual bedtime is sometime between 100a and 200a – and don’t get enough sleep each night.

You would think it would be easy for me to get in the habit of going to sleep an hour or so earlier.  But for some reason I’m finding it very difficult to break this pattern.

When I was still working, I tended to go in to the office fairly late and leave to come home fairly late – by the time I fixed dinner and paid the bills and did whatever other chores I needed to do, it was almost bedtime.

But if I had gone to bed then, I would have had no time to read, or listen to music, or watch TV, or write 2 or 3 lines.  I would have felt like I had no life.

So I stayed up late to do those things for a couple of hours, which meant I got off to a late start the next morning – etc., etc.  (Rinse and repeat.)

Now that I’m retired, I have much more time to do the things I want to do – although you’d be surprised how much time I manage to waste without accomplishing anything.  (If you’re retired, maybe you wouldn’t be surprised.)

So I’m still going to bed too late.

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The Talking Heads released “The Book I Read” in 1977 on their debut album, Talking Heads:77.  

The song isn’t really about a book – it’s about the woman the singer is in love with:

So feel my fingers as they touch your arms

I’m spinning around but I feel alright

The book I read was in your eyes  

Click here to listen to “The Book I Read.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: