Do you read books?

[Dick Whitman]

I know there are a couple of books threads on the site, but they seem to get an excruciatingly slow amount of traffic. And, of course, they are frequented by a self-selecting audience that actually ... reads books.

For some reason, I'm curious about the reading habits of this board. If I have a New Year's resolution, it is to read more books and magazines and less blog posts and other Internet munchies.

Do you guys read books?

Did you used to read books and then get away from it the last few years? Do you blame the economy? Do you blame the Internet? Or perhaps it is the opposite - perhaps the Internet has helped lead you to more books than you could have ever hoped to discover before.

 

[imjustagirl]

I definitely go through books phases. I wish I read more, without a doubt. I also wish I read better books. But much like my television viewing habits, I go for cheap and easy and mindless. Lots of chick lit about mean boys and finding love and all that crap.

I do go through phases where I read voraciously. And when I am, I wish I would do more. But my attention span is so short that it ends up just being phases. Borrowed Ball Four from a friend several months ago. Read through like 200 pages of it in the first day and a half. Haven't picked it up since. Brought it home to Kentucky to try to finish so I can return it...it's still in my suitcase.

 

[Moderator1]

Yes.

Real ones and now books on a Kindle, too.

 

[SpeedTchr]

Yes. Stacks and stacks of mysteries and thrillers.

 

[buckweaver]

Read about two dozen books a year. Wouldn't mind if I had time to read more, but that's a pretty good pace for me.

 

[outofplace]

Do comic books count?

Seriously, I do read "real" books constantly. I always have one with me. I mix in classics with the sci-fi crap and there are a few I re-read at least once a year.

 

[SixToe]

Yes, and I always will.

History, presidents, news-type events and those things interest me. I don't care for fiction, like John Gresham, or the hot-popular thing at the moment.

I vow to never read one on a Kindle, iAnything or other eGizmo, either.

 

[YGBFKM]

I'm listening to my iPod nano for the first time. it's not looking good for the printed word right now.

 

[BYH]

Plus there are only so many books about Pantera out there.

 

[waterytart]

Do I read books? Only all the time.

At the first parent-teacher conference for each of our kids, it was obvious that the kindergarten teachers were happy they could tell me that my kid was the best reader in the class. Our revolutionary technique for accomplishing that was that we read to them, and they saw us reading for pleasure.

At ages 10 and almost-13, I still get to use trips to the bookstore as a reward for good behavior.

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

I don't read as much for pleasure since I started grad school, but I still read about 15-20 books per year. Usually history or politics related stuff.

 

[maberger]

i read books -- probably a couple dozen -- 30 a year -- as well as subscribe to way too many magazines. but for as much 'physical' reading as i do, i would say the internet (blogs, websites, whatever other time-wasters i can find) has cut into that, cuz otherwise i'd likely be reading all the stuff piling up.

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

I read at least 2 books a week. One digital and one paper. Normally have about 5 books going at the same time.

Roll Tide

 

[Pilot]

Not nearly as much as I'd like. I probably read 10-15 books a year. I always have one with me -- take it to work, take it to lunch, take it to bed. But, I don't read nearly as much as that effort would indicate.

I get a lot of magazines, too, and don't do very well on those, either. I love and hate TV in the bedroom. I love sleeping in, waking up and popping on the TV for an extra hour of mindlessness. I also have my PC hooked to that TV and watch lots of movies and old TV series that way, which I love. But it all means I rarely, if ever read a book before bed. I find it really, really hard to turn the TV off.

It also means I get through some books so slowly I don't enjoy them, so slowly much of the nuance is lost on me when I go a week or two without making significant progress and the whole thing takes me a month or more.

 

[farmerjerome]

I read as much as I can afford -- Dr. J and I have to own our books. I'm also a fast reader, and I'll fly through the books I got for Christmas by the end of next week.

I'll probably order five or six off Amazon (used of course, for about .50 a piece) since I got a lot of cash for Christmas.

 

[Wenders]

I read as much as I possibly can. I also do a lot of re-reading...picking up a book I really liked about a year later and re-reading it to try to catch things I missed the first time around.

Like IJAG, I read a lot of mindless chick lit but I also read a lot of fantasy (preparing to re-read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), mysteries and action books. I was also teased mercilessly (actually, am still teased mercilessly) by my family, who really doesn't read. At all. Seriously, the last book my mother read was in high school more than 30 years ago. Most of my family members don't even have bookshelves in their houses.

And this year, I finally got what I really wanted for Christmas -- a Barnes and Noble gift card. Seriously. That's all I want.

And now I work in a library, which is like an alcoholic working at a liquor store. I'm just enabling myself, but at least it's not at B&N, where the books are for sale. The books I can take home for free. Huzzah!

 

[Turtle Wexler]

I would like to read more books. But my attention span is shot to hell after years of magazines, and the only time I have to read is right before bed. I'm lucky to get through a page and a half before falling asleep.

 

[Alma]

Fiction, mostly. Some other stuff.

Much of non-fiction today is boring, long, overwritten and some historian/commentator gazing at his/her own navel.

 

[HC]

I read a lot but much less since I have a car - commuting was great reading time. I've stopped buying books as much as possible just because there's no room for them. The Toronto Public Library is my main reading room. Every time I hear of something I'd like to read I go on their website and put in a request. When it's available they send it to my local branch and notify me by email that it's there. I like to think of it as Netflix for readers (Netboox?)

 

[TrooperBari]

I still read books, though not as much as I'd like. Part of the problem is I go out of my way not to accumulate too many possessions. My book-buying tends to come in flurries (usually right after I relocate somewhere), and I also offload books in flurries (right before I relocate somewhere).

College textbooks aside, I think I spend more on books now than I have in the past, so it's not the economy. It's just finding the time to stop and read them. The Internet doesn't help, though I enjoy reading long magazine articles, so books shouldn't be an issue.

One of these days I'm going to follow through on my threat to spend a long weekend on Pulau Macan and take nothing but a change of clothes and books.