Reading Binge – Less Social, But Fewer Calories Than Most Other Binges

Currently Reading: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

First, I’d like to warn everyone that I’m going to attempt to use photos in this post, which I have not done before so I’m not sure how well it’s going to work. If for some reason it’s a complete failure, please bear with me.

So about two weeks ago, I took my annual pilgrimage to my family’s cabin on the St. Lawrence River, a trip I have literally been taking every year since before I was born (yeah, my mom went there the summer she was pregnant with me so I think that counts). It is an incredibly gorgeous, rather rustic, and very isolated oasis in northern New York. Way northern. Like I’ve canoed, kayaked, and boated into Canada so often I pretty much don’t consider it a foreign country, it’s that far north. It is my sanctuary; the place where I recharge and reconnect with my family and the lifelong friends who also make the same pilgrimage and thus understand the way this place seeps into your very soul to become an inseparable part of yourself.

This is our cabin, what we affectionately refer to as Camp. It's over a hundred years old and wonderful.

Bottom Right - Our dock. Strip of land across from it - Canada.

Although being at the River often involves a fairly personal washing away of the miseries of the past year to get ready for the next, it’s actually a very social, active atmosphere. Growing up, I remember spending more time swimming and running between my friends’ and my own house than sitting and relaxing. We canoed, we tubed, we learned to water-ski (eventually), we took family picnics on the islands in Canada, we fished, we went cliff jumping, and we visited castles and Canadian villages. Basically, we were constantly doing things.

Maiden voyage in my new kayak last summer.

There were two main exceptions to this rule. The first was when it rained and we were forced inside, mastering the game of Bridge (don’t judge. You don’t have to be 60 to love it) and playing endless rounds of Rummy. The second was when we were forced to sit our butts down and read.

Because our trips to the River usually fall in the first weeks of August, a somewhat unintentional tradition of the vacation was the opportunity for my mother to trap us into finishing (/starting) our summer reading. Procrastination runs in my family and my sisters and I pretty much always had to do the entirety of our summer reading while at the River. I very distinctly remember reading Gulliver’s Travels on our dock and the hundred-year old glider on our front porch. I equally remember reading Shadow Spinner in bed late into the night because I had so many bug bites, I couldn’t sleep from the unbearable itch. It was always the most obnoxious part of our trip. I mean, seriously? We couldn’t go swimming in the warm sun with our friends because we had to read? Gross.

At least, initially it was an activity we were forced to do. Over the years, it became something I love about my time spent at the River. My most recent vacation especially highlights this.

This past vacation was odd for several reasons. One: I went in June when the water is significantly colder. Two: My friends weren’t there (not totally unusual, but still). And three: I went solo. Granted, my uncle and grandfather still live 20 minutes from our cabin in my mother’s childhood home and my cousins went up for their own trip so that our time there overlapped for about a day and a half. However, this was the first time ever I had gone without my parents or my sisters and it was certainly the first time I had spent any significant amount of time in the house on my own.

It’s VERY quiet when you’re by yourself in the middle of nowhere.

After all, I really was in the middle of nowhere media-wise. We have no internet up there and Canada is so close that our cell phones believe we’re actually in Canada and charge us a fortune to use them. I was actually literally completely cut off for a day when men doing work in our backyard knocked out our phone lines. For the first time in my whole life, I was completely unreachable, a novel and kind of refreshing concept in a world so entirely connected all the time.

Our old school phone. Just to give you an idea of the level of technology here.

Although I didn’t anticipate the complete cut off, I knew I’d be fairly isolated and decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Armed with about ten books, I settled in for a glorious reading binge.

I actually managed to get the most perfect environment for this indulgence. Not only was I isolated and alone in a beautiful, relaxing place, but I was also gifted with enough rain to keep me from feeling guilty about not being more active or enjoying the other wonderful aspects the River offers. I had no responsibilities and no other options. With plenty of Diet Coke, pizza, beer, and blankets to cuddle under, I snuggled into a hermit cave to escape into alternate realities authors have so graciously created for me.

My favorite reading spot when the weather is nice.

The weather that kept me from reading there...

Aaaahhhh J

It was wonderful. More decadently indulgent than the richest, creamiest chocolate dessert.

Because as much as I love reading, I hate that it’s a fairly anti-social activity. Yes, you can find ways to make it interactive through books on tape, reading out loud, and book clubs, but, generally speaking, reading is an independent hobby. Especially when you want to allow yourself to fully engage in the novel to the extent that the world around you falls away. I mean, in that case, you really stop caring about being active or interacting with others. Actually, you may even find yourself irritated to the extreme when your family and friends have the audacity to speak to you while you’re so clearly in Valdemar or Hogwarts! Gosh!

But on this trip, I didn’t need to feel bad about not talking to anyone or about not moving from the couch. Reading was all I had on my to-do list. I finished Brave New World, read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and most of The Scarlet Letter in two and a half days. The most satisfying binge I’ve ever had with none of the nasty side effects. I thoroughly recommend it.