Reading for pleasure in law school Forum

[NICIAS]

Do any law school students here read for pleasure during the semester? If you don't want to, could you, just based on your schedule?

[chem]

Do any law school students here read for pleasure during the semester? If you don't want to, could you, just based on your schedule?

+1 for interest

[nygrrrl]

I tried to. Didn't happen. Mind you, I also work FT.
2L now and my schedule is crazy but more balanced; I try to read the Economist, a few daily blogs and skim the Times each day. That's about it. (I'm reading 3 "for pleasure" books over break - don't expect to read another until summer.)

[Geist13]

I read in bed to help me fall asleep. So i generally get through like 5 pages per night.

[yo!]

I read some blogs and sports news on the internet, but that's about it. I almost never pick up a book or magazine for fun. After reading for law school, more reading is about the last damn thing I'd like to do.

[swilson215]

I re-read a few of my favorites during the semester, mostly to de-stress. But then, I've always been a big reader. I think I made it through one book that I'd never read before during the semester. Maybe two. It's easier to re-read since you're not as invested and it's easier to put the book down for a few days and then pick it back up and still know what's going on.

[cinephile]

Sure, I read all that time. Law school doesn't take up that much of your time until about a month before finals. For most of first semester I was able to go to the gym 2x a week, go to yoga 2x a week, watch a couple of hours of television a day, and do fun reading. Just bought a few new books to read of the course of this semester. Of course, all my books are pure fun -- currently, I'm working my way through Brit chick lit. I can't imagine doing any more dense reading.

[St.Remy]

I found that I actually read more during law school than I did undergrad, I used fiction as a sort of detox for all of the assigned reading (it feels very nice to go from reading 15 pages an hour of cases to 50 of fiction). I read one or two books a week, so about 18-20 over the course of the semester. I also watched a lot of TV. In retrospect some of that time would have been better spent in outlining in conjunction with the class instead of waiting to do my outlining until finals, but even if I had taken that route I still would have had plenty of time to read.

[YourCaptain]

I read in bed to help me fall asleep. So i generally get through like 5 pages per night.

+1, maybe 10 pages here though

[kalvano]

I read all the time. I love to read, and I don't want to go to bed associating reading with law school stuff. So I read for fun.

[viking138]

I lived off campus so I read while commuting. I also watched about an hour of tv a night with my bf, and I cooked almost every night. I wish I had worked out, but I added that in 2L year (and started reading before bed as well). I think having those hobbies/interests outside of law school helps keep you sane and it's really important.

[ran12]

Never have time to do any outside reading except sports and news.

[Geist13]

Never have time to do any outside reading except sports and news.

Nope. Sorry. That's totally wrong. There is plenty of time.

[ran12]

Never have time to do any outside reading except sports and news.

Nope. Sorry. That's totally wrong. There is plenty of time.

I'm not saying I don't have free time. I just prefer not to allocate it for extra reading.

[JoeFish]

Yeah... my reading time definitely suffered myself. As has been said, the time drain is generally overstated when described to 0Ls. If you really want to read for pleasure, you can find more than enough time. But, yeah, like a lot of people, after I've done a day of school and read all of the next day's assignments, I just don't really feel like curling up with The Crying of Lot 49 - I'd rather watch sports, work out, and (derp) play video games.

[FlanAl]

I would read articles from magazines like the Atlantic or the New Yorker but no novels. I watched a ton of tv though and now that time warner finally got HBOgo it will much likely be worse. I think there is plenty of time to read it just depends on how you allocate your time.

[yngblkgifted]

does reading my Facebook news feed count?

[Grizz]

DELETED

Pretty pleasureable