Developmental stages of reading

When you were little you could lie on your stomach for hours and read a book. You could scramble to bed, lie flat and hold a book up over your head, for hours. Your arms never tired.

Teens can curl up into fetal position or hang upside down to read. It's insane.

Once you hit adulthood you can read side lying, head propped up by arm and the book out in front of you. Hours. 

Once you hit middle age, you realize that sitting up is the way to go or you will be in a coma by page two. After all, it's the busiest time of one's life. Being tired is an expectation and a right.

Later on in life, some stand at the kitchen counter, so says my mom. She said that it is too much to sit down, she is out like a light. Bed forget it, a chair, forget it, she must stand. She has been doing this for years.

I can't imagine what old age is going to bring! I am thinking audio while being strapped to a chair with a neck harness. Clips to keep your eyes open. Caffeine IV grip.

I have tired many positions, we all have. I can't lie on my side and glare down at a book that is not directly in front of me, my eyes are all over and the lack of precision and geometry distracts me. The bed? NO way. The last bit of utter comfort without falling asleep is in this (above) chair. Straight back, pillows geared for my neck to be in the proper position and a pillow on my lap to hold a book, iPad or Kindle. I can read in cars too, however,  since we don't really go anywhere much these days and doctors are running tighter schedules, AND the TVs blaring in every sort of office now, Kathi Lee, screeching, (no offense to KL fans but really...) it's not even worth taking a book out, though I always will, mind you, always will. You never know.

I do have one doctor that refuses to have a TV in his office, I will never leave him. Never.

Reading has so many variables as you age, font size, heaviness of the book (my grandmother said if it's over two hundred pages, she's not reading it, that was in her eighties.) and character count (my grandmother said if the book has over five characters she can't keep up with them.) God rest her soul, I really didn't believe her. I thought, how can this be?? But as I get older I see the slippery slope one goes down as we find a way to stay in our hobby, a much beloved hobby, downsizing the things that make it too hard. 

For now I will sit in my chair, my books can still be heavy, font size, meh, I have retinopathy so I do tend to find bigger and glossier font and if it's lame font,  hard to see, I buy it on Kindle or eReader. I am getting out of larger population of characters books of late, it seems to be a bit much and I really have a hard time committing to any series (except for one, one I have invested in.) But a series talk will be for another blog on another day. 

I am going now, I need a good propping up to dive back into my book and hope I can maintain this way of book life for another decade or two. The forties and fifties, maybe sixties, a good reading chair is a must. With many pillows to make you feel like you are being put in the perfect position to read.  Good luck!