Put your phone down and quiet read live with me. Remember when we used to pick up a book instead of our phones? There’s no talking during these sessions and this is your chance to make time to read. Follow me on Substack and get an alert when I go live. Sessions are ad hoc depending on my schedule.
Click here to join my Substack.
Read my recent Toronto Star Column on my Binge Reading project
“I have decided what I want the last third of my life to look like. Along with continuing to write literary fiction and revere birds, I want to be actively dedicated to bringing people back to reading books. I also want us to read the novels, poetry and non-fiction created in this country that can help us stimulate ideas, hope and a way out of the current global disaster we find ourselves in.
My modest proposal is Binge Reading. We will use the very device that has taken us from our reading to bring us back. Over the past month, I have been livestreaming myself on Substack (bingereading.substack.com) reading a book for up to 5 hours.”
“People can join the stream with a simple click. I see their names. Everyone reads quietly. In the chat window, I type if I am taking a tea break and I place an online link, if the book I am reading is available in the public domain. As the project grows, I will make reading suggestions. People are also free to read whatever they wish.
What’s the point? If you are streaming something on your phone, you are unable to use that phone for scrolling. We need help to retrain our brains and that is not a personal failing, it is a massive opportunity. It is a societal shift that’s made our first instinct to turn to the phone.”