a book a day...

The title above links to a fun, short, blog post on how to read, basically, a book a day. Well, it's not "how-to"--more of a "how she". And, really, a "how-I".
When students, and friends, ask me how I read so much (it usually comes up when they see me packing for vacation--I have been known to bring only one pair of shoes in order to have more room for books), I usually just answer "I've been doing it awhile; I've had a lot of practice." But, when a particularly suspicious friend (he didn't believe that I was "really" reading) observed me for a time, he drew the same conclusion that Sarah Weinman did about her own reading, I seemed to scan the page in chunks instead of line by line. I hear the dialogue, and see the settings, very vividly--I just see them very quickly. They are not rushed in my head, and I rarely feel that I am missing something. In fact, I usually only feel as if I am skimming when I am forcing myself to finish a book and don't want to be paying complete attention anyway.
This talent, or freakish ability, came in handy at university. Since most of my coursework involved reading, and I could read quickly, I never felt as stressed out by it as some of my friends. And, because I can generally remember a book quite well, it also helped to speed through paper-writing when I would be able to find a quote/example quickly.
Other than that though? And using it as a party trick to get my students to read? I've never felt that it was that impressive a skill. Trust me, if you had asked my seventh grade self whether I wanted to be able to read that fast or make sense of social relationships I would have chose...the reading one, but there would have been a pause while I considered what it would be like to be able to make sense of interactions outside of books.
Occasionally though, when I'm re-reading a book, I love the fact that reading this fast gives me enough time to read new books I'm interested in and old books I love. Right now, I'm on my seventh book of the new year (although six of them are re-reads of Agatha Christie and P.C. Hodgell), so I'm right on track to keep on reading.