How much do you read? What do you read?

You guys want to read?

Go back to grad school. You'll have plenty of stuff to peruse, constantly and relentlessly.

No, seriously, of course we need to read. Other writers, competing writers, books for leisure, books for education, books for inspiration.

Unfortunately, I find my time to read as much as I would like to dwindling more and more.

 

Same here, SC.

I can go months without reading a book, then fly through several in a week or so. It's not necessarily a time thing -- sometimes, I just don't feel like reading.

As for newspapers, I try to grab the local rag while on the road, whether it's the Big City Times or the Podunk Press. Always like to steal ideas see what others are doing.

 

Speaking of reading, I read the Snow piece today and another job well do to you, sir.

 

Read a ton. Some magazines. Some online - especially film-related material. Same with newspapers.

With books, I try to read a few at a time. One of them is usually a sports book. Preferably a short one. One of them is usually The Great Gatsby. One of them is a book of short stories by Tobias Wolff. Another is a book of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. A fourth is a book of short stories by Flannery O'Connor. A fifth is a book of short stories by Raymond Carver. I just keep them around, and read them occasionally. I'll pick a story, or, if it's Gatsby, I'll read the first 30 pages.

Beyond that I like one popular, rip-through-it fiction book. By popular I mean, oh, Crichton, random chick lit, Turow, Leonard. Then I like one tough fiction read. And finally I read the Bible.

My honest suggestion? If you don't really have a heart for it, stay away from non-fiction. Most of those books are too long and boring; they drone on and on, deliberately failing to capture the essence of a subject to give every, single, awful detail.

 

With the web, I read many, many papers. I usually hit at least 10 different sites, plus the metro on my porch every morning. Along with the AP and when I'm feeling froggy, the LATWP wire.
Magazines, I read the New Yorker from cover to the fiction piece and then pick it back up after the fiction piece is done. I hit Esquire every month, and I usually read the pieces that people post on here, no matter where they appeared
When I need some inspiration, I go to Eggers.
I'm also a big fan of what McSweeney's does. I've been on and off on The Children's Hospital for it seems like months now.

 

Jones and F_B, I'm glad you chimed in. The BP line is an awesome on

As I said, I read. But I read the wire. I read CNN.com. I read Time.

I guess I don't read in the classic, quality literature sense -- it has been forever since I've picked up Shakespeare, Hemingway. Maybe reading some would inspire me and rejuvenate my work.

 

Rolling Stones Matt Tiabbi is brilliant.

I believe he did a lot of post-Katrina reporting which should be mandatoring reading for journalists. Not only did he get the story, he took you there. Great example of show don't tell reporting.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7661196/apocalypse_there/

 

I try, *try*, to read a book a week, but I don't always succeed at that. I started our paper's What We're Reading/What You're Reading and there's a bit of pressure (the good kind) to contribute each week. I generally prefer non-fiction, but I find that I'll plow through good fiction much faster. I try to post what I've finished on the books thread, although it's sometimes a bit obscure (like the civil rights era stuff I tend to gravitate to at times).

 

Don't feel that you should be reading 24/7, but if you have a passion for the written word, then that usually applies to reading outside of work. Plain and simple suggestion...cut back drastically on the amount of Web reading you're doing (and possibly how much you post here) and find a book or two on a topic which is a home run, one which appeals to you in almost every form. Force yourself to read it and you'll find you want have to do so much "forcing" after you've gotten a dozen chapters in.

 

When I read books, it's normally some non-fiction -- and the occasional Grisham thriller, etc.

But mainly, it's college textbooks and economic white papers.

 

I'm glad to see others here read more than one book at a time. It always feels wrong to me - like an ADD thing or something. Like I can't stick to one thing. Plus, the night stand starts to pile up with books after a while.

Anyway ... I like to read short stories, probably three or four of them a week. If I ever break into fiction, which I hope to, I believe that's the place to begin. So beyond just being entertained, I like to get a handle on how good short story writers pull a reader through the piece, how they work details into the story, how they develop characters in a short space and so forth.

I typically always have a nonfiction book going, usually alternating between a sports and history/current events book. I probably finish off one every two weeks or so. If I read something dense - Woodward's recent book, for example, or Robert Greenfield's Timothy Leary biography from last year, I usually follow it with something lighter and shorter.

Magazines - I subscribe to SI, Esquire, Time, Rolling Stone, Baseball America and The New Yorker. I'm still working out how much to read in each one on a week to week basis, as well as how long to keep back issues before giving up on reading any more in them.

 

Sacriledge!

A good suggestion, though.

I've been bad at self-discipline, so much so that my laptop almost always goes to bed with me at night, so I can just do work/read e-mail from my bed. Not good, and that's one of the reasons I started this thread, to get some suggestions. Thanks, AA.