<p>Read any good books lately? </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1375807.html[/url]”>http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1375807.html</a> </p>
<p>I’ve been reading the Arden third edition annotated Hamlet recently.</p>
<p>My sweet, late becoming a reader, 16 year old son said that people must have assumed they meant finished a book when they answered a poll. Everyon reads in his world.</p>
<p>I just finished reading that article in our local paper. Since I work at a library I see quite a few readers every day but there are also days when the computers are full and no one is looking for books in the stacks. It’s also disheartening when the middle school students come in to get their required reading books and look like they’re picking up the trash instead of something fun to do. In our MS, all students are required to read three books. In stark contrast, the majority of pre-school and elementary age children that come in are actually excited to check out their books and talk excitedly about which one to read first. </p>
<p>Good thing I read one book a week to make up for slackers like my husband who prefers newspapers and magazines.</p>
<p>‘They’ve’ predicted the end of the book for as long as I can remember. First it was computers. Then the e-readers. Truth is, people read. People may not read what ‘they’ think is quality fiction but they read. Romance, thrillers, mysteries are all thriving. </p>
<p>As for kids, maybe it’s the books middle schoolers and high schoolers are expected to read that is killing their enthusiasm. My D and her friends joke that if a book has a Newberry Award sticker, it will depress the heck out of anybody who reads it. Stop assigning books about despair, grief, and misery where everybody dies and lo, kids like reading again. They can handle those things but in the context of a great tale (like HP), not when gloom is the whole point of the book.</p>
<p>I saw that- I was shocked!
Even my younger daughter who is dyslexic is a big reader-
My H reads a lot of " pulp fiction"- he goes through a western or sci fi book every other day- but then he will read something like Collapse or Guns, Germs & Steel on the weekend.</p>
<p>I use ereader every night.
I have a Palm Pilot, that I love<B, and I tentatively put a few books on it to take camping- it is handy to read in the tent- without having to snake a hand out from the warm bag to turn a page.
But now I have lots of books on it that I buy from Powells, they don’t take up much room- I actually can see the page ( I am very near sighted) & it doesn’t disturb my H to read in bed.</p>
<p>( Its also handy because I often am eager to read books as soon as they come out, but hardbacks can be a pain to deal with- I still buy hard copies though- for instance I just bought an 1st edition of * Into the Wild*, the film comes out next month and I predict it will make it even more popular.)</p>
<p>My D and her friends joke that if a book has a Newberry Award sticker, it will depress the heck out of anybody who reads it.</p>
<p>Or Oprah- some of her selections I already had- but some I didn’t even bother reading if it had an Oprah sticker. I respect her influence though.</p>
<p>My 17 yr old- has read 1984, Animal Farm & Slaughter house five this summer. ( she has been away working at camp so not much time to read)
I asked her if she had been given an assignment for Lit already- but she said “no, she just wanted to read something different”
- Oh & I am not sure how many times she has read the last HP
*</p>
<p>Some people I think read * a lot*, our area has many bookstores, but I wonder if some people just don’t have the attention span? I know my mother doesn’t- she sits and watches tv all day- then when she tries to read a book she can’t keep the story straight.</p>
<p>I do like graphic novels as well. I loved Persepolis, and Y: the Last Man.
Perhaps my mom could try those.</p>
<p>At the risk of stating the obvious: One of the most valuable and enduring gifts that a parent can give their children is to help them develop, from an early age, a love - indeed, a passion (to use a word that’s overused in the college-admissions game) - for books. </p>
<p>Among other things, all the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth that goes on here at CC and elsewhere - about making yourself a stronger college applicant, etc. - could largely be avoided if children learned, and began to put into practice early in their lives, just three things: (1) read, (2) read, (3) read.</p>
<p>As the inimitable Emily D. put it: “There is no frigate like a book.”</p>
<p>Books are too long. I prefer other forms–magazines, newspapers, films, even cable TV.</p>
<p>Completely agree epistrophy…</p>
<p>My father was a Professor of English and I grew up surrounded by all of the “great” books. I’ve spent much of my life in a state of insomnia, reading by flashlight, hoping to uncover some secret to life’s mysteries. I happily passed on my love of books to my D. We both have a mountain of must-reads on our nightstands which rarely diminishes because it is constantly being augmented! </p>
<p>Maybe bibliophilia is genetic?</p>
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<p>Too long for what?</p>
<p>What’s the hurry?</p>
<p>One of the joys of losing yourself in a book, it seems to me, is losing your sense of time altogether.</p>
<p>Too long for what they provide. I’d rather be out doing other things with people than losing myself for hours. Same reason I don’t like video games. It’s a solitary experience. A good short story packs more wallop and is easier to remember. How much do you really remember from a book you read five years ago? I remember more from films I saw 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Hmmm. . . I’ve already posted more times on this thread than I had intended but:</p>
<p>–I don’t agree that reading is simply a “solitary experience.” Through reading one can, in effect, engage in a dialogue with - to take the opening post as an example - Shakespeare and his characters.</p>
<p>–Sometimes analogies break down pretty quickly. To say that reading a great book and playing a video game are similar because both are “solitary experiences” seems to me to be a bit like saying that making love and going with someone to a shopping mall are similar because they both involve two people.</p>
<p>When they start talking back to you, let me know.;-)</p>
<p>Maybe when I’m re-retired and have all the time in the world. Right now it’s hard to keep up with my current interests,talk to my wife enough to keep her happy, and sleep. If I had my nose in a book three hours a night I’d be in divorce court.</p>
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<p>My husband either plays the piano or works on projects involving noisy power tools about three hours a night. I would prefer that his nose be in a book. It’s quieter.</p>
<p>I happen to love to read, myself. Books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, cereal boxes – anything in print. But some people don’t. Both of my kids seem reasonably smart, but one is a reader and one is not. They have always been that way. Oddly, the non-reader scored higher on the verbal parts of the SAT. Go figure.</p>
<p>Bookclubs get big turnouts, and when authors come to discuss their books, the crowd gets even bigger.</p>
<p>I find it an excellent way to deal with the empty nest syndrome. In earlier years, it was lovely to lose oneself in a good book and relieve stress. Also, fun to share books with children.</p>
<p>Kathie, let me know if you have any books to suggest. My boyfriend and I are always looking for new books to get from the library. He reads every day for a few hours and as a result goes through books fairly quickly. The book right now is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I like to read as well but don’t as often as he does. My dad always has a book in his hands and is crazy about the science fiction/fantasy type.</p>
<p>When I was in school, we had to read 10 books per year. Any book you read for school could count towards those 10 books. Ex, everything you read in english class.</p>
<p>I like books that make me think of something in a different way. Jodi Picoult has a wonderful way of making me question my beliefs and making me think more deeply. I like how Michael Crichton teaches me about Science painlessly or how John Grisham makes law and the court system interesting. Or how about how Bill Bryson makes you want to travel to strange places or just look for the strangeness in everyday travel? There is nothing else like reading and absorbing information in a book format.</p>
<p>Fendergirl, if your boyfriend is reading The Curious Incident he might enjoy following it up by reading The Speed of the Dark by Elizabeth Moon. It’s another book with an Aspie narrator, but with more of a Flowers for Algernon aspect as the narrator is given the opportunity to have an operation to make himself normal. Lot of interesting food for thought. Very similar voice.</p>
<p>Getting time to read isn’t always easy. I keep books in the car (four or five). When I’m stuck somewhere, like the doctor’s office or waiting for my D to finish some activity, instead of reading old magazines, I pull out a book. If I’m eating alone in a restaurant, I have a book with me. It’s amazing how much reading I can do during ‘down time’. Maybe other people are talking on their cells or doing vital work on their laptops (gotta get through another level on Halo2). But reading is what I love.</p>
<p>BA/BC, I read by flashlight as a child too, mainly because I was being told to stop reading. Funny, but D is just asked, “When are you going to go to bed?” No need for a subterfuge. </p>
<p>My days are filled with the occupational hazards of delays and null time. I seldom go anywhere without some reading material at hand, either books or sections of the LA TIMES and NYT that I didn’t read at breakfast. </p>
<p>Right now, I’m reading a new Harry Turtledove novel and have started BLEAK HOUSE.</p>
<p>Harmonic convergence? </p>
<p>TheDad–I just finished reading Bleak House! (Some of his most amusing characters and crazy plot twists!) I usually reread at least 2 Dickens novels each summer. I have those lovely leatherbound editions which are my prized possessions!</p>
<p>Perhaps we could form Flashlight Readers Anonymous? Or, star in a commercial for Eveready! As a child, I actually had to move from “under-the-covers” to “in the closet” to hide my reading addiction! Some habits die hard–I still carry a book & a mini-flashlight with me wherever I may roam!</p>
<p>Happy reading everyone…</p>