Allow me to explain this phenomenon. As a child I voraciously made my way through everything from The Chronicles of Narnia to all of the Nancy Drew mysteries, and I soon developed a knack for speed-reading. I could blaze through any book I was given. The problem soon became that I read so fast that I couldn't slow down enough to gain the comprehension that is necessary in an academic setting. I began to blur my "fiction mode" of reading with my "academic mode" of reading. In high school I learned that speeding my way through The Great Gatsby or Dante's Inferno might be enough to pass a reading quiz but it was not enough to enter into the class discussion. This realization set me on a quest to develop multiple modes of reading. When I am reading for pleasure I allow myself to fall back into "fiction mode", but when reading for school I force myself to slow down into "academic mode". On my own time I can read at the rate of the hare and speed towards the finish line, but for class I must confine myself to being the tortoise... Slow and steady wins the better grade.
Another downfall of my speed-reading is that when I fly through a book I am likely to miss out on appreciating the satisfaction of a well-written sentence or the pleasure of a beautiful description. For example, one of my favorite books on my shelf right now is Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. This gem of a book contains a
compelling plot which slyly tempts me to slip into "fiction mode", but both the implications of the story and Lewis's eloquent narration require a tortoise-style read for full enjoyment and comprehension. Though I allow myself to be drawn in and rapt up in the narrative, I keep a bit of myself aware of slowing down to enjoy the experience.
All of this rambling to say that my goal for the semester is to continue in my separation of "fiction mode" and "academic mode".
Also, everyone needs to read Till We Have Faces.
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