Lately, I have had an incredible amount of reading to do for various classes, and it has been a serious struggle. I just finished a 470-page book for English class in less than two weeks and am already behind in our new book, and I read a 300-page novel for a history paper.

The source of my struggle to keep up with my readings is that I have forgotten how to read.

I used to read all the time and be fairly quick at it. I would finish a page in under a minute and could lend my full attention and concentration to the book, article, or whatever I happened to be reading.

Now, I can hardly focus on the plot, let alone the concepts of a story. I will be reading and simultaneously checking off a list in my head of all the things I have to do. By the time I’ve finished five pages, I’ve barely gleaned any sense of the plot development or even noticed the entrance of a new character.

Another problem is that it takes me at least a minute and half to finish a page, which catapults me back to my reading abilities from sixth grade.

I’m not sure to what evil I should attribute my literary regression. I could potentially blame it on the distractions provided by all of the college applications and essays I have been stressing over, the painful hours I spend studying calculus, and the fact that I am a restless teenager who just wants to play and frolic, but I would probably just be making excuses. I could also blame television and the trend of the media presenting everything with fewer words and more pictures, but I don’t want to get into any philosophical ponderings.

The real problem is that I simply don’t read as much as I used to. I don’t read the newspaper or any real magazine articles. I skim way too quickly through readings, and I haven’t read any book solely for personal fulfillment in a long while. The appeal that turning the pages of a new novel or flipping through the latest news article in Time magazine once held is almost lost to me.

This predicament of mine is a little depressing. However, I have vowed to become once again the reader that I used to be. Perhaps the trend of excessive amounts of required reading for my classes will continue and I will regain my reading abilities.

If not, I will take matters into my own hands and shut myself up in a room full of lengthy novels over winter break.