There is one week in the year when the calendar empties by common agreement, and it is the one now ending. Diaries thin out, the trains are busy on a Friday and empty by Tuesday, and a great many things that felt pressing in July have quietly been moved to September. Nicole Junkerman treats this week as the most useful of the year, for reasons that have little to do with rest.
Reading in late August is a different activity
Holiday reading is done quickly and in strong light, half of it forgotten by the time the bag is unpacked. Late August reading is slower and more deliberate, because the mind can feel the season turning and wants something it will still be carrying in November.
The practical consequence is that this is the best week of the year for a long book, or for a book that requires a little patience before it repays the attention. There is time for the slow first fifty pages that a busy month would never allow.
A book finished properly in a quiet week does more work than four books hurried through in a fortnight.
Choose fewer things
The temptation in a free week is to line up a great deal of reading, as though the emptiness of the diary were a target to be filled. It is a reliable way to finish nothing.
Nicole Junkerman keeps the number deliberately small, usually two books rather than five, on the grounds that a short list can be finished and a long one can only be started. What matters is the finishing, because an unfinished book leaves almost nothing behind.
What the week is good for
The list barely changes from one year to the next, which is part of why it can be trusted.
- One long book, chosen because it needs time rather than because it is short.
- A second reading of something already read, which nearly always finds what the first reading missed.
- Half an hour a day outdoors at an unusual time, since low light makes familiar streets worth looking at.
- A page of notes on what was read, written while it is still fresh enough to be accurate.
- One honest question followed for an afternoon, with no obligation to arrive anywhere.
Notes are the part that lasts
A book read without notes tends to leave a mood rather than a memory. A page of notes, written in the week the book was read, turns the mood into something that can be returned to and argued with later.
The writing method pages make this case at greater length. In a quiet week the notes take twenty minutes and are worth considerably more than that in December, when the details have gone but the page remains.
Second readings
One habit worth reserving for this week is rereading. A second reading sees more than a first, because the effort of orientation is already spent and attention is free for smaller things.
It also has the advantage of being unhurried by design. There is no suspense to get through, which means the reading can go at whatever pace the sentences deserve. The reading index keeps track of what has been worth returning to.
Before the season turns
Within a fortnight the tone will have changed completely and the autumn will be underway with its usual confidence. That is as it should be, and there is nothing to resent in it.
But the week now closing will have done its quiet work first. The companion note on setting up a calm autumn of reading carries the thought into September, and the notebook holds the rest.
Frequently asked questions
Why is late August good for reading?
Because the calendar empties by common agreement, which leaves room for a long book or one that needs patience before it repays attention.
How many books should a quiet week hold?
Two rather than five. A short list can be finished, and an unfinished book leaves almost nothing behind.
Why write notes?
A book read without notes tends to leave a mood rather than a memory. Twenty minutes of notes turns the mood into something you can return to.