Books...Who Reads Books Anymore?

[Spexxvet]

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]

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]

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.

[BigV]

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.

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]

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.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

Explain to me why this is a bad thing. If you look at the quality of most of those books being published, I don't know that we would be better off for having read them.

If I decide to watch something on the History Channel or PBS instead of reading a trash fiction novel, isn't that a better choice? Why is the printed word more sacred than then spoken or visual word?

I think most of the music on the radio today is crap. That doesn't stop me from enjoying some of it.

I enjoyed the Jurassic Park movies, but I've also read the books. The images and thoughts in the books become part of me that wouldn't be there if I had not read them.

I just finished a collection of writings on software development that gave me a number of thoughts and ideas I would not have gotten had I not taken the trouble.

You don't have to read everything that's published, surely. But I think it's awfully limiting to exclude an entire medium.

*not seriously - but*
The main reason to read books instead of watch TV is that books have no commercials or fund-raisers.

[SteveDallas]

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.

[Tse Moana]

I love books, I love to read. Always have, I cannot pass anything with letters on it and not read that as well. Most of what I read is esacpism: scifi/fantasy a lot, pagan stuff, historic novels, poetry, some regular lit. Hardly any of the flimsy books though, they have to have some body (and then I don't mean number of pages).

I used to read more when I was younger, but then, that's easier with less responsibilities to take care of and all. Nowadays, depending on what needs to be done in a given month, I generally read between 2/6 books a month.

I have a great many books (600+ atm), am running out of space but will never stop getting more books, I love them too much.

I like to watch tv too and then divide the time between a handful of series I always watch and some freeranging along discovery channel, national geographic channel and animal planet. I watch stuff beside that, but generally only when I accidentally come across while channelflipping.

What is really sad, & a real testament to the sickness of today, is how people used to ask me "what'cha' readin"... now they ask "why are you readin' that".
I'm not kidding, I get asked that all of the time. They ask me that often, also, when I tell them that I'm going to the library as well.
There must be a reason to read, something must be making you do it... it can't be because you like it, especially since I read non-fiction most of the time.

[dar512]

Anyone else like to read in bed before going to sleep? I've done this since I was a kid [back in the dark ages]. I now find it hard to go to sleep unless I read for at least a little bit.

[bluecuracao]

I love to read before going to sleep, but I've had to learn to pace myself. Sometimes if the book is too good, I'll forget to go to sleep!

[SteveDallas]

I have to have some distraction or I just start thinking about stuff and it takes quite a while to get to sleep. Usually reading or listening to music or something will do the trick.

[Ibby]

Nah, my computer is within arms reach of my bed, so I stay online on AIM and various web sites until I pass out.

Though I DO sleep listening to music, every single night. I can't sleep without it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

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.