How much do you read? What do you read?

The term "voracious reader" defines me. I go nowhere without a book or magazine along for the ride and tell my college students (most of whom read only at gunpoint) that it is impossible for you to be a good writer without reading. The two not only are NOT exclusive to each other, but they are the yin and yang of effective communication.

My wife is the same way, thus our home has books everywhere. Three years ago, I donated three garbage bags of books to the local library. If I hadn't, we'd run out of room.

Because of my Jeopardy experience, I was tethered to the New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge, Shakespeare for Dummies and this book on the Academy Awards for the last two-plus months. Now, I can get back to reading for fun again.

What is fun? Historical books, especially on the Founding Fathers, the Civil War, WW II. Baseball books (I'm trying to assemble the definitive baseball library), golf books on famous players/courses/tournaments (see Frost, Mark), books on media history/personalities. Not a lot of fiction, other than historical fiction and a few classics like "All Quiet on the Western Front."

We get the NY Times, SI, Time and a few other designer-esque publications my wife likes. Plus, we get all the golf trades at work, which I barely have time to really read. I'm pondering subscribing to Esquire (if for no other reason, than getting a steady diet of my man Jones).

 

Whatever's required. Beyond that, whatever speaks to me.

 

Sounds like I'm similar to most of you -- I read some, but not as much as I'd like. I also try to switch up between fiction and non-fic history stuff.

I, for the most part, don't read much I could brag about. I've been reading the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan series for most of my life, it feels like. I'll go through about a year where I'm pretending to read one book, then get through it and the next one in about two weeks if I go on vacation or something. I'm currently slogging my way through Rainbow 6. I have a huge "to-read" stack that I keep telling myself to get to, but I just can't. One thing that seems like it's slowed me down is the DVR. I've gotten a lot more into following every episode of several TV series since I no longer have to be home to see them, so I feel I'm spending a lot more time watching those than I am reading. I waste some time just watching random crap on TV, but I really spend the most time catching up on my long list of series I now always watch.

One tip I would have for people just trying to get to more content: books on tape. You can download them for mp3 players a number of places both legally and not-so-legally and though I know it's not exactly the same, it really feels like you read something, and you can do it while driving to Middleofhellburgh for that sweet small-class basketball game. I listened to 1776 (friggen' great, by the way), The Broker (by Grisham, pretty solid) and Undaunted Courage (Stephen Ambrose on Lewis and Clark -- also very good). I still wish I read more, but I at least feel like I'm getting a little more worldly and smart when I get through one of those.

 

I try to read every night before I go to bed. I grew up the child of educators, so I was almost force-fed a steady diet of books. I'm very picky about what I read, but I gravitate towards Dominick Dunne, as well as books involving court cases. I've been on a O.J. Simpson trial kick as of late - I'm reading Lawrence Schiller's account of the defense and Robert Kardashian.

I try to go to the library as much as I can to get books, but then there's that window between the last of the library books and the next trip to the library and I'm forced to go to the bookshelves at home, which have everything from Larry McMurtry to Carl Sagan, Toni Morrison and Judy Blume.

 

alright, sorta threadjacking but... what's your reading guilty pleasure? mine: john sandford's "prey" novels (each of 14 titles has 'prey' in the title), mysteries in which minnesota detective tracks down killers.

 

I read the Prey books.

Anything by Robert B. Parker. That's a slightly guilty pleasure, although not really. His early Spenser novels are some of the best hard-boiled stuff out there.

 

Instead, you have to babysit a bunch of slackers, here. That's an even trade. God bless you, Moddy.

 

I'll second that.

I read various sports sections online, Sports Illustrates and XXL. But the writing in XXL makes me feel like I'm losing brain cells and, judging from the letters each month, wonder if I'm the only subscriber who isn't incarcerated.

I don't have enough time to read recreationally anymore, and sometimes I don't even have time to read required textbooks.

 

I don't read nearly as much as I used to...or should. I got into a great habit of reading every night over the summer but have lost it again.

I read almost strictly non-fiction...I figure there is so much out there in the world to learn that its' hard for me to go the fiction route.

 

As a firm believer that writers MUST read, I try to always be reading a book -- either a "good" novel or book-length narrative journalism -- but sometimes it takes awhile for me to get through. That, plus my regular mags - New Yorker, Esquire, Oxford American - the Wall Street Journal and a smattering of papers online, constitutes my reading diet. Plus, I'm a daily visitor to www.gangrey.com. Check it out.