Books...Who Reads Books Anymore? - Page 2

farfromhome · 07-10-2006, 01:12 AM

Great catch Patrick! I think those survey numbers may be a little inflated. Still...

seakdivers · 07-10-2006, 01:31 AM

I love to read.
I've had down times where I didn't have the time to read the back of a box of brownies.... hence all of the screaming & running....lol

My husband has a helluva book coming out early this fall, and I'm excited beyond excited!! It's a gathering of some of the greatest forensic minds out there, and it's been a long time coming.

John Adams · 07-10-2006, 02:40 AM

I love to read and typically have 2 or 3 books going at a time. My wife also reads quite often and both my kids (4 and 6) are really into reading, we read every night. Unfortunately most parents don't read to their kids so it becomes something they have to do for school and of course school equals work which is no fun. It is so much easier to sit and stare at a screen or play video games then actually read.

Smoothmoniker - you make it sound like all books are crap. Have you read the top 100 books of all time yet (you can google it)? It's a very interesting list. It should take a while to read all of those even if you read four or more per year.

Shawnee123 · 07-10-2006, 08:39 AM

My mom said that when I was a kid, if there were nothing else around to read, I would read every word on the cereal box. So many of my educated colleagues don't read; have never read classics; don't bother with any of it. I think it's sad what passes for education.

My summer reads so far this year:
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Lucky by Alice Sebold (I love her writing style)
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen
And, re-reading Jane Eyre, again!

Shawnee123 · 07-10-2006, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Adams

Smoothmoniker - you make it sound like all books are crap. Have you read the top 100 books of all time yet (you can google it)? It's a very interesting list. It should take a while to read all of those even if you read four or more per year.

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to work on reading the many that I have not. I was pleased to see The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen on the list. An email pen pal recommended that one to me and I loved it!

Undertoad · 07-10-2006, 08:52 AM

I have a wall full of books, but the web has left my attention span at too low a setting to read/use them.

Online, I now read much more than I have ever done in my lifetime, and that includes when I was 8 and would stay awake at night and read with a flashlight under the covers.

I won't read opinion offline at all; there is so much better available on. Whenever I read hard copy opinion, I keep reaching for the reply button that doesn't exist and it pisses me off.

Spexxvet · 07-10-2006, 09:47 AM

I always have a book going. Almost all is strictly entertainment - sci fi/fantasy, or mystery/suspense - real escapism stuff. And about the only time I get to read is on the throne or at the beach. My 15 yr-old hangs at Borders - she and my 12 y-o son read ALOT, which makes me happy.

Stormieweather · 07-10-2006, 10:19 AM

I am at my desk working all day, then I often play online games in the evening. I have tried reading online books but to be honest, it's just too much desk/computer time. To me, a good book should be read curled up on a comfy seat with some music in the background and a nice hot cup of tea or coffee nearby.

I have been an avid reader of books since I began reading at age 4. At that time, I read every book in the house, including the encyclopedia. I read extremely fast and as a result, I out-read my wallet in that I can't afford to buy all the books I could and would like to read. I rarely buy hardback because the price tag is too steep. As it is, I've recently bought another bookcase to house the ones I can't bear to part with.

Most of the books I choose to read are escapism, in my opinion. I've usually read the top 10 or 20 fictional bestsellers. I also have tons of books (dozens) about abuse, emotional health, raising children, poetry, art, music, history, mythology, astrology, gardening, sewing and some odd-ball stuff like palmistry, celestial navigation, and various crafts. I have a few classics as well as some collectables that I stumbled across.

Books are extremely important to me and always have been. Television and computers can never take the place of those written words coupled with my vivid imagination. Speaking of imagination, most of the movies I've seen that were made from books I read, never came close to the scenes played out in my head.

Stormie

Shawnee123 · 07-10-2006, 10:30 AM

Stormie...you said pretty much what I was thinking!

I just moved in with my boyfriend, and he has a small house. Therefore, our garage is filled with boxes of books. I have kept pretty much every book I have ever owned. I have a little of everything: fiction, fact, reference, childrens...even without the internet at home I can find a lot of what I need from my books; I was playing a Nancy Drew game (don't laugh, they're fun) and needed to know a specific fact. I found it in one of my books.

B/f doesn't understand why I want to keep all those books. It is a collection, like any collector. Have I read every single one of them? No. Are there some I may never read again? Yes. But you don't expect people with, say, a salt shaker collection to use them all at the kitchen table. He just doesn't get it!

You can have my books when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-10-2006, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

snip~ I have kept pretty much every book I have ever owned. ~snip

I was in shock for a week when I found out libraries discard books.

velocityboy · 07-10-2006, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I was in shock for a week when I found out libraries discard books.

Discard books? Ours sells the ones they don't think they need anymore at really good prices, and use the money to buy more books. I always go and end up bringing home way too much that we don't have shelf space for

BigV · 07-10-2006, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

--snip--
Whenever I read hard copy opinion, I keep reaching for the reply button that doesn't exist and it pisses me off.

07-10-2006, 12:55 PM

Shawnee
You are a kindred spirit . I am the sort of person who wakes up panting at night remembering that so-and-so has still not remembered to give me back that tatty paperback about the reproductive cycle of the humming-bird . I harbour murderous thoughts into the dawn , and worry myself sick about how to ask for it back politely .

But I have had to change recently .

I am moving from Europe to the Caribbean , and I simply cannot afford to take my thousands of books with me . I have thinned my library , and I am giving the rest away . I am giving them away carefully , thinking about my friends' tastes . I put my books into letterboxes . I sent one book to a journalist who had mentioned in an article that he collected the French Guides Bleus .

The amount of goodwill and warmth I have received as a result is quite extraordinary , and yet I thought I would suffer . I am not suffering at all , on the contrary .

( My generosity has its limits of course . NO-ONE will be getting their hands on my complete Gibbon for example . )

Ibby · 07-10-2006, 01:22 PM

I remember the time a few years ago, in Singapore, spending almost all of our 7-hour layover sitting under a table (dont ask) in Barnes and Noble, because I hadnt seen so many english books in the same place in a year or so.

I read about five books in those five hours. Full books, coupleathree hundred pages.

I've been reading since I was two and don't plan on stopping till I'm a hundred and two. Or later, if I live that long and my sight holds up.

SteveDallas · 07-10-2006, 02:31 PM

Books books books. MMMmmmmm lots of books. Though I'm starting to get rid of some, and rely mroe heavily on the library--we're just running out of space.

07-10-2006, 01:12 AM	#1
farfromhome Management Consultant Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Portland,OR/Conesus,NY Posts: 166	Great catch Patrick! I think those survey numbers may be a little inflated. Still... __________________ When you ain't got nothing-you ain't got nothing to lose.

07-10-2006, 08:39 AM	#4
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	My mom said that when I was a kid, if there were nothing else around to read, I would read every word on the cereal box. So many of my educated colleagues don't read; have never read classics; don't bother with any of it. I think it's sad what passes for education. My summer reads so far this year: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Lucky by Alice Sebold (I love her writing style) The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen And, re-reading Jane Eyre, again! __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

07-10-2006, 09:47 AM	#7
Spexxvet Makes some feel uncomfortable Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 10,346	I always have a book going. Almost all is strictly entertainment - sci fi/fantasy, or mystery/suspense - real escapism stuff. And about the only time I get to read is on the throne or at the beach. My 15 yr-old hangs at Borders - she and my 12 y-o son read ALOT, which makes me happy. __________________ "I'm certainly free, nay compelled, to spread the gospel of Spex. " - xoxoxoBruce

07-10-2006, 10:19 AM	#8
Stormieweather Wearing her bitch boots Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Floriduh Posts: 1,181	I am at my desk working all day, then I often play online games in the evening. I have tried reading online books but to be honest, it's just too much desk/computer time. To me, a good book should be read curled up on a comfy seat with some music in the background and a nice hot cup of tea or coffee nearby. I have been an avid reader of books since I began reading at age 4. At that time, I read every book in the house, including the encyclopedia. I read extremely fast and as a result, I out-read my wallet in that I can't afford to buy all the books I could and would like to read. I rarely buy hardback because the price tag is too steep. As it is, I've recently bought another bookcase to house the ones I can't bear to part with. Most of the books I choose to read are escapism, in my opinion. I've usually read the top 10 or 20 fictional bestsellers. I also have tons of books (dozens) about abuse, emotional health, raising children, poetry, art, music, history, mythology, astrology, gardening, sewing and some odd-ball stuff like palmistry, celestial navigation, and various crafts. I have a few classics as well as some collectables that I stumbled across. Books are extremely important to me and always have been. Television and computers can never take the place of those written words coupled with my vivid imagination. Speaking of imagination, most of the movies I've seen that were made from books I read, never came close to the scenes played out in my head. Stormie __________________ "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi

07-10-2006, 10:30 AM	#9
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	Stormie...you said pretty much what I was thinking! I just moved in with my boyfriend, and he has a small house. Therefore, our garage is filled with boxes of books. I have kept pretty much every book I have ever owned. I have a little of everything: fiction, fact, reference, childrens...even without the internet at home I can find a lot of what I need from my books; I was playing a Nancy Drew game (don't laugh, they're fun) and needed to know a specific fact. I found it in one of my books. B/f doesn't understand why I want to keep all those books. It is a collection, like any collector. Have I read every single one of them? No. Are there some I may never read again? Yes. But you don't expect people with, say, a salt shaker collection to use them all at the kitchen table. He just doesn't get it! You can have my books when you pry them from my cold, dead hands. __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

07-10-2006, 01:31 AM	#2
seakdivers Icy Queen Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Southeast Alaska Posts: 700	I love to read. I've had down times where I didn't have the time to read the back of a box of brownies.... hence all of the screaming & running....lol My husband has a helluva book coming out early this fall, and I'm excited beyond excited!! It's a gathering of some of the greatest forensic minds out there, and it's been a long time coming.

07-10-2006, 02:40 AM	#3
John Adams Founder of Freedom Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 58	I love to read and typically have 2 or 3 books going at a time. My wife also reads quite often and both my kids (4 and 6) are really into reading, we read every night. Unfortunately most parents don't read to their kids so it becomes something they have to do for school and of course school equals work which is no fun. It is so much easier to sit and stare at a screen or play video games then actually read. Smoothmoniker - you make it sound like all books are crap. Have you read the top 100 books of all time yet (you can google it)? It's a very interesting list. It should take a while to read all of those even if you read four or more per year.

07-10-2006, 08:52 AM	#6
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I have a wall full of books, but the web has left my attention span at too low a setting to read/use them. Online, I now read much more than I have ever done in my lifetime, and that includes when I was 8 and would stay awake at night and read with a flashlight under the covers. I won't read opinion offline at all; there is so much better available on. Whenever I read hard copy opinion, I keep reaching for the reply button that doesn't exist and it pisses me off.

07-10-2006, 12:55 PM	#13
Buddug Guest Posts: n/a	Shawnee You are a kindred spirit . I am the sort of person who wakes up panting at night remembering that so-and-so has still not remembered to give me back that tatty paperback about the reproductive cycle of the humming-bird . I harbour murderous thoughts into the dawn , and worry myself sick about how to ask for it back politely . But I have had to change recently . I am moving from Europe to the Caribbean , and I simply cannot afford to take my thousands of books with me . I have thinned my library , and I am giving the rest away . I am giving them away carefully , thinking about my friends' tastes . I put my books into letterboxes . I sent one book to a journalist who had mentioned in an article that he collected the French Guides Bleus . The amount of goodwill and warmth I have received as a result is quite extraordinary , and yet I thought I would suffer . I am not suffering at all , on the contrary . ( My generosity has its limits of course . NO-ONE will be getting their hands on my complete Gibbon for example . )

07-10-2006, 01:22 PM	#14
Ibby erika Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: "the high up north" Posts: 6,127	I remember the time a few years ago, in Singapore, spending almost all of our 7-hour layover sitting under a table (dont ask) in Barnes and Noble, because I hadnt seen so many english books in the same place in a year or so. I read about five books in those five hours. Full books, coupleathree hundred pages. I've been reading since I was two and don't plan on stopping till I'm a hundred and two. Or later, if I live that long and my sight holds up. __________________ not really back, you didn't see me, i was never here shhhhhh

07-10-2006, 02:31 PM	#15
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	Books books books. MMMmmmmm lots of books. Though I'm starting to get rid of some, and rely mroe heavily on the library--we're just running out of space.

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