Sippers, Dippers, and Flippers
Now that it’s back to the 5 to 9 world of teaching (yes, 5 am to 9 pm–hi, ho, hi, ho work is all I know), I’m reflecting a bit on my splurge of reading over the summer. I ever so did try to balance my reading and writing, but I admittedly succumbed to reading way more than I intended [see Writing Goals *lol*].
My reading proved to be rather eclectic and I found myself segmenting my choices into three distinct categories:
Sippers: Books I tend to read at night before falling asleep. My mainstay sipper has been Da Vinci’s Notebook. Unfortunately this is an abridged version so it does not have any illustrations. However, it still captivates my attention and I find myself sticky flagging all sorts of amazing insights. This man’s genius is truly astounding. Quotes of note:
The natural desire of good men is knowledge.
I obey thee. O Lord, first because of the love which i ought reasonably to bear thee; secondly, because thou knowest how to shorten or prolong the lives of men.
Good literature proceeds from men of natural probity.
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
(And this is just 30 pages into the observations section. I need to read painting, anatomy, flight–and there’s more yet to explore! I may be sipping on this all year.
Dippers: These were titles I didn’t read cover-to-cover, only reading a page here, a section there, relishing a line or two, but not feeling the urge to sit down and absolutely, positively read it. This is the type of book to prop behind the cereal bowl, or lunch plate or pass the time with in the bookstore while waiting for the MEPA to finish selecting the perfect card for his sister. A fave dipper this summer:
and then we come to the major reads section, those books that I couldn’t put down, the ones where I meant to read a couple of chapters and return to writing. Uh huh.
Flippers: Flip. Flip. Flip. I’m flying through these books because–
A. The writing is soooo good I can’t stop reading
B. The storyline is amazingly riveting
C. I’m grooving on the combination of good read, soft breezes, comfy hammock
Titles that were so flipping wonderful:
These both claimed an afternoon each. And of course I had to read the sequel, and the other books in the series. And then write up my GoodReads reviews. Whoosh, there go those writing goals…
How was your summer reading? Did you also sip, dip, and flip?
Pam Webb 
I did a lot of flipping this summer, with a little dipping. Nothing so relaxing as reading!
I love the names you made for these, I’ve been a mixture of all three this summer, I have never recovered from the 100 books in 362 of last year and what with this blog thing going quite well I fear I have had my last hurrah, perhaps i will become a dipper more these days….
I know, I know. I keep checking out books to read, but have all these papers to grade already!!