The first month of classes has swept away September; whether you felt it as a lofty breeze or tumultuous gyre, I’m sure you’ve got a vague idea of what school will be like for the rest of the semester.
You’ve (hopefully) got an idea of how to balance your schoolwork with whatever else you do with your spare time. But, of course, school can take a toll on your days, whittling away the increasingly sparse hours you spent napping, video gaming, commiserating lustily to the memory of John Barleycorn, etc.
Maybe you spent your spare time reading. Maybe you’ve looked around this past month and realized, “Aw shucks, I done gone and gotten behind in my pleasure reading! This is a legitimate grievance!” Anyway, the facts are apparent: You have to do school stuff, but you also want to do things you like, such as reading.
Luckily for you and the many other book-minded sufferers on campus, there is a solution. What follows is the patented Reichard Guide to Getting Yourself Together In A Literate Sense:
1.) The Library is Your Friend
I’m sure you’ve already got a bone to pick with the University Bookstore for taking all your money and giving you textbooks in exchange. The thought of buying more books probably leaves you shivering with Welsh rats. Rather than do that, use the library system on campus. We’ve got so many: Memorial, College, Steenbock, Wendt, um… 36 others! The UW library system is pretty up to date and expansive, so you’re bound to find something. Also, they deliver to other libraries for very convenient pickup.
2.) Buy Used
If the prospect of sifting through library stacks or waiting for a reserved book leaves you cold, but $15 feels like too much for a new reading book, bum around State Street and check out the used bookstores. Just there, we’ve got Paul’s, Browzer’s and the remnants of Avol’s in the brand new A Room Of One’s Own. You can’t go wrong with around 10,000 $2 paperbacks.
3.) A Book Is A Book Is A Book
If you’re gonna read in your spare time, go for a book you want to read, not out of some insecure notion that reading is all about being heady or intellectual, or, worse, in an attempt to seem cultivated. Read what you want. It’s not like you’ll get booed out of a kegger because you haven’t read Proust (though I imagine that would be one hell of a kegger).
4.) Take Your Time
As you’ve learned, or will learn in time, Madison is going to school you in more ways than one. Even the most diffident, seasoned senior has an inkling of UW’s rampant factoring into their schedule. If you want to keep up with pleasure reading, take your damn time. If it takes two months of “Anna Karenina” sitting by your bed side, taunting you endlessly with its girth, then let it.
