One Sitting

To read in one sitting is to unappreciate the novel; it's a giving in to gratification. To read in one sitting is to undervalue a writer's work; it undermines their thought, their time, their effort. To read in one sitting is to miscomprehend the novel: made, as it is, in parts, of parts, even if there are breaks in it. The novel laboured over deserves time given to it; to read in one sitting makes all it contains disposable. To read in one sitting is not to sit with the novel.

Picture credit: Meditation, Madame Monet Sitting on a Sofa, 1871, Claude Monet (source: WikiArt).

From journal, November 2021.