Why read?

[LSPoorEeyorick]

I know you've pooh-poohed it all these years, Mark, but I really think if you sat down with the Potter novels, you'd find they are enchanting.

[wendybeth]

Oh, he'd totally fall, LS. I, too, was a doubter as to the quality and appeal of the Potter series, but I think it's no secret that I reformed. You really should read them, Mark- at the very least read the first one.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Funny this should be brought up. I've been in my most consistently read-y stretch of my life for the last couple of years, and I'm really glad. I'm a naturally slow reader, especially when I haven't read in a while, so I've tended to resist. But I seem to have broken out of that and I know I'm better for it.

What happens to you after you finishe a book, good or bad?
Depends widely on the type of book. If it's a novel and I enjoyed it I might make a note of it and look for other work by the author. If I REALLY enjoyed it I'll likely immediately grab something else by the author (the day I finished reading everything Douglas Adams had written was a sad day). If I didn't like it I'll find someone to complain about it to (ideally someone who liked it ).

If it's non-fiction I usually look for something else on the same or similar subject, or tangent off to a related (even if marginally) subject.

Do you put it away and not think about it or does it apply to your life in some way?
Depends on the book and the subject. I'd say that the only subject that I read that I consistently continue to ponder after putting the book down is anything regarding philosophy of the mind/consciousness. Agree or disagree with what I read, it's always on my mind.

Why do you choose to read certain books
Recommendation. Previous experience with the author. Referenced in a bibliography of something I liked. Nearby on the library shelf. Stuck in an airport. The title jived with something I was thinking. Any combination of the above, and more. It's kind of a stream of consciousness decision usually.

For example, I grabbed 2 books at the library today. I was pulling titles from the bibliography of a Douglas Hofstadter book. The first one I grabbed was Waiting for Godot, which I've never read (straight out of the pages of Duh Magazine, but damn if that isn't a good play!).

The second title I was looking for on the shelves was a book called This Book Needs No Title, about paradoxical word play (e.g., "This is not a sentence.") and such. Despite being in the system, it wasn't on the shelf, probably mis-shelved or yet-to-be-shelved after a return. But as I was scanning the area around where it should have been, I spotted Paula Poundstone's book, There's Nothing in this Book I Meant to Say. The conceptual similarity in title, and the fact that I've been hearing a lot of Paula Poundstone since I've been listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR regularly were enough for me to accept that as a fair substitute. Of course, the very next day our TiVo recorded an episode of Home Movies for the first time in months and it happened to be one of the 6 where Paula Poundstone voiced one of the main characters. Go figure.

and why do some read easy and other take forever to read?
I figure it's a matter of how closely the author's thought process aligns with your own.


Is there a satifaction or is it just to pass the time?
Definitely satisfaction. I actually hate reading as a time-passer. If I'm not interested in the book I can't concentrate and it's an absolute chore,

Have you ever finished a book or gotten halfway thru and nothing sunk in to where you had to start over again?
Never a whole book. I'll find myself re-reading a sentence, or a page, or a chapter due to my mind wandering, but as a whole I pay attention to the book.

That said, my long term retention is fairly horrible. With rare exception, by the time I'm reading the next book, the details of the previous one are pretty sketchy.

So why?
To keep it short, because of the opportunity to expand my thinking. I'm not one who gets lost in fantasy worlds while I read, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me think in new directions.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I know you've pooh-poohed it all these years, Mark, but I really think if you sat down with the Potter novels, you'd find they are enchanting.

Actually I have read the first one back near the beginning of the year. I found the first one at a thrift store for .50 cents and it was a hardcover, so I picked it up. I enjoyed it and if I came across the others in a thrift store I'd pick them up. Enjoyable and I can understand why they're such a hit.

GD - You bring up a good point about the library as a way to try out material and its such an odvious point too. I guess accessibility plays a role in that. -- Thanks!

[katiesue]

I like to read mostly for fun although learning something doesn't hurt. I usually buy my books and have varying criteria. Could be the author, the subject, suggestion by someone, book review or even just an interesting cover.

I mostly read in the tub. It's warm and comfy and no one bothers you (well mostly). For this reason I tend to buy books rather than check them out of the library as I'm always afraid I'll drop one in the water.

Some books I slog through, I rarely ever don't finish one but there have been a few. Some I can read in a couple of days. It just depends on the writing I guess. Some stick with me for years, these I tend to re-read. Others I forget a day after I finish reading them.

I hate reading aloud. Poor Maddy. She always wants me to read to her, and I do, but it makes me crazy. I read really fast and reading aloud just seems like it takes freaking forever. The exception being Shakespeare which was meant to be read aloud and is much better if you do so.

The rule in our house is you can never have too many books.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Bornieo: Fully Loaded

GD - You bring up a good point about the library as a way to try out material and its such an odvious point too. I guess accessibility plays a role in that. -- Thanks!

I also like recommendation-hopping at Amazon. Good way to find stuff you might like (then I go to the library).

[Chernabog]

I'll join the "it depends" chorus on here -- some books stick with you and others don't. I read fiction 95% of the time, and I read books for entertainment. Unless I re-read a book (like I've read most of Stephen King's books a few times over), or it was a book from my childhood (Roald Dahl, Madeline L'Engle) the names and places don't really stick with me. Sure, I remember if the book was enjoyable or not, or whether I'd recommend it to others. But besides some works of Stephen King, Clive Barker and Anne Rice, it is very rare that a book truly affects my life in a way beyond it just being pure entertainment.

I also rarely cry when reading, but every so often, it hits me. Last week, actually, I was surprised when I was crying while reading a Stephen King short story that appeared after the novel "Blaze" (written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman). There was a part that involved a disabled man's response to a neighbor's dog getting hit by a car (yea yea cheap shot) but the characterizations, the writing, and the response was so powerful that it left me shaken.

I don't read as much as I'd like to, but I always have a book in my briefcase for when I have time to kill. Right now my briefcase book is John Steinbeck's "East of Eden", which is AMAZING. And amazingly sordid. I hadn't really read Steinbeck before, thinking he was dry English lit stuff, and it SO isn't. Kinda like how I prejudged Kurt Vonnegut, and his stuff is so wonderful to dig into.

I'm also reading a collection of short vignettes by David Sedaris called "Naked". Highly recommended because the stories call up strong emotional responses in me that I don't often get from reading.

Books are odd things though, I read them like I play video games -- that is, I buy them, play/read the first part, just to test the waters and see what the "mood" is, and then set it down for a time. When I'm in the mood to pick it up again, I do. And sometimes, years go by before I'm in that mood (though that may be the product of too many entertainment options at my apartment lol...).

I do have a lot of books that I read halfway through and put them down forever because I just cannot get into them. I'll start skimming through boring parts, and if that doesn't produce something interesting after 20 pages or so... well... my attention span just isn't that long

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I read that in The English Patient and it has stayed with me.

First and foremost, I read because it gives me pleasure. One of my favorite elementary school experiences was cracking open an unused text book, burying my nose into the spine, feeling the softness of the pages against my cheeks and inhaling the scent. It was the ritual I practiced unconsciously before I began to read.

Every time I take a book from the shelf, in a library or in a store, new or used, I feel that same kind of anticipation. I like to experience the physical reality of the book before I enter the universe of the writer's mind.

My approach to reading is sometimes three-fold.

The first read: For pleasure. I read without ignoring my own point of view. I may learn new things, but often my own opinion may skew the author's intent. The book speaks to me or it doesn't. I find myself fixated on turns of phrase, word usage, the structure of paragraphs. My love or hate, etc. of the characters. It can be intense or cursory, depending on how excited I am by the narrative. More often than not, even if I love the book, one read is all I manage.

The second read: To better understand the book the author set out to write, taking my own experiences into consideration less. Sometimes I'll notice something wonderful I missed before, and sometimes I'll notice its faults more.

The third read: Deconstruction. The part of me that likes to write reassess the whole in order to develop a deeper understanding or appreciation.

Mostly, I like to read because I love storytellers, and the mythology and folklore passed on through the ages, digested and reinterpreted. I learn more about myself whenever I read a novel. I learn more about the world. Words thrill me. I read the dictionary for fun. I love it when an author can explain a common experience in a way that hasn't really been done before. Poetry can enhance one's understanding of language in a way a phonics book never could. An historical fiction can sometimes make palatable a lesson that one yawned through in 8th grade American history, and a non-fiction book can read like the best imaginary story ever told, if the writer is gifted enough.

I, uh, just really like to read.

Plus, reading is sexy!

Heh.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Well, I went to the Library today! I got a Hemingway bio for $2. I couldn't check anything out because since I am homeless and my previous address was in another city, I can't get a card yet. But...there are other ways. I wish it was less of a "cold" place - not really a comfortable place IMHO.