ration

Good books are uncommon, but books that are so well-crafted that you are torn between reading slowly to savor every word or tearing ahead to devour the book in huge gulps are exquisitely rare. When I was younger, I almost always took the second option, perhaps naively believing that there would be many more perfect books to come. Now, when I come across such a book, I try to take a more measured pace, sifting through it more slowly and re-reading a line here, a page there, in order to bask in the book for as long as possible. The pleasure is more muted, but it lasts longer, and I can always devour it if I decide to re-read the whole thing later.