Pop Culture

The Best Places For Me to Read A Good Book

Romeo Rosales

Staff Writer

Full time Librarian, father and husband, Romeo Rosales, Jr. holds an MLS from Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX, a B.A. in History from The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, TX, and an A.A. in History from South Texas College in McAllen, TX. Romeo was born and raised in Pharr, TX, a border town that is part of the historic Rio Grande Valley. He is a contributor for Public Libraries Online, the companion website to the bi-monthly print publication "Public Libraries," the official magazine of the Public Library Association. He is also a published author and when he is not writing, he is spending all of his time with his wife Claudia and his son Azariah. Twitter: @Rrsls10

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I walk into a noisy bar or a noisy cafe and I see people sitting on a comfy chair reading a book. It reminds me of that scene in Inglourious Basterds where the Gestapo officer is reading a book and drinking a beer in a very noisy bar. How can people do that? Occassionally I can play some Kings of Leon or The Cinematic Orchestra when I read but eventually the noise level proves to be too much of a distraction for me. I prefer for things to be almost completely silent, otherwise I won’t read much more than a few pages.Tell Me How Gif

When I was a child, I would hide in my bedroom closet and find comfort from any books by Roald Dahl, S.E. Hinton, Beverly Cleary, and many other amazing authors. It was my place to get away for a while and be submerged in the world’s described in books.  These days, I am not comfortable unless I am reading by myself in silence. I find there are too many things that distract me and as I mentioned in a previous post, I am already a slow and irresponsible reader. I don’t need to be further distracted.

I find there is no way for me to imagine a world created by an author if there is too much background noise. I end up reaching the bottom of a page only to realize I have do cluse what the heck the page was about. I have to be very selective when it comes to reading locations so I have narrowed my “best places to read” list down to my top four choices. The list goes as follows:

  • In my son’s bedroom on his single sofa chair
  • In a closet
  • In a car with the windows rolled up while I wait to pick up my son from school
  • In the living room on our family’s couch when novody else is home.

Is this list weird? I feel like I am the only one who is oddly selective when it comes to where I read and how I read. There are times when I will read on a bed, but not in a traditional way. I will lay on a bed, on my stomach, while my legs touch the floor. I end up fidgeting with my legs every few seconds as well. For extra comfort, I will throw a pillow under my stomach and get sucked into the world of a book. Pretty weird, right? After about fifteen minutes or so, this position puts strain on my back so I will go somewhere else to read.

Don’t judge me. Somebody save me and tell me I am not the only one who is very selective when it comes to reading locations and reading positions.