[caption id="attachment_4856" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="from LenEdgerly on flickr"][/caption]

For many of us, summer evokes kicking back and reading on the beach with a Kindle in one hand and a cold drink in the other. But are we really "reading?" Reading has always been connected to books.

Yet haven’t we always read road signs and menus, labels and ads? Words are everywhere. And we’ve always read between the lines, read other people’s minds, and read signals until we read too much into things. Reading has always been beyond the page. It’s not about pronouncing words, but about understanding the world. It turns out, reading hasn’t changed much, but maybe where and when we do it has. And today, we still read to write, or in some cases type. So read the following Six-Word Memoirs about reading in all forms and functions. Then, write your own for someone else to read.

Reading binge gave me reading hangover. — tiggerpuss Felt old, reading paperback on train. — MotorCityMich Reading pre-email letters. Incredibly nostalgic. Surreal. — Amapola Two kids gone. Three hours reading. — MO_Thoughts2 They're reading fanfiction. Together. How intimate. — Brilliant