My first installment reading of Welcome to the monkey house, Who am I, reads like butter. This is the type of text I just fly through. This text creates no problem for me. I just accept what I read and don’t question. My metacognitive strategy for reading fiction, novels, plays, short stores is diferent than my metacognitive strategy for reading nonfiction. Fiction is suppose to be all imagery; let the imagination run free, have fun, relate all experiences to my own. This is the type of text I take on vacation, read in my backyard in the summer, take to the park, read on the plane, curl up to and use to escape. Better than a movie, my favorite TV show or the internet. It is all me when I read. I emerse in the text. Which character am I?
I love the imagery of the beautiful girl behind the counter of the phone company P16&17. It is rich with detail; “her blue eyes, comparing her to a machine, numb, wondering if she was interested in anything at all”. How many times have we seen that girl behind the proverbial counter of life and have casted her as a bit player in our own proverbial “play” of life. I was able to put a face on her immediately. I think I knew her once. I use picturing and connections.
How about my actor friend, Harry Nash p18. He reminds me of so many people I have known or met in my life. He was “huge, handsome, conceited and cruel”. He too I was able to put a face to right away. I think he dates one of my lady friends. Me and my girl friend laugh.
This type of text I read with a different metacognitive strategy than nonfiction text; I use picturing and making connections. There are no fixups, problems, or predicting going on in this metacogintve process of mine. No googling required, maybe an occasional word to lookup (fixup) but then again most text is written for the average reader, all the words are familiar to me. Re-Reads? Did I miss a detail in my canvass?. Predicting is a “no no”; why spoil the ending or second guess myself. Its time to give the mind a rest and let it be playful. The text just roles off my lips. I am busy and mindful making connections, recalling experiences and relishing in the imagery in full color. To me this type of text is what reading is all about; effortless, inviting, calming, filled with emotion and making new literary friends through characters. Whatever I was feeling or was experiencing before reading the text, just got tuned out. Best medicine in the world.
Another journey through self-awareness.. who am I.. reads like a hot knife thru better...effortlessly
I'm happy that you're enjoying the story. I loved it. I agree with you when you say reading it was like a hot knife through butter. I am used to reading fiction this way too, which is why I tried hard to take it very, very slow in the beginning. Afterall, the underlying question we should consider is why this type of reading comes so effortlessly. Certainly we didn't always read this way. I suppose the answer is that, as you discussed in your blog, our experiences inform our reading. A child or even a teenager may have trouble making connections with this text for that reason.
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