I read magazines for entertainment.
I read books for information.
I can’t remember the lat time I read a book for pleasure.
It helped me learn to write. Writing, in turn, helped me learn to think more clearly and organize my thoughts, which led me down my career path.
That, and it made me a fount of useless knowledge and factoids, which is a hit at all the nerd parties.
For instance, slightly related to Bobopunxs first post above:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Taught me how to be a lesbian.
MD:
Gaimen’s best book, IMO is “Good Omens”. Love that book.
It can be best summed up by the following:
Where will you be in one year? Exactly where you are now + the books you read until then.
Now when I’m looking at a playboy at work and someone catches me I can actually say I am reading the articles.
Groove
I love to read, to the point where I actually have to limit my readin time or I’ll stay up all fucking night reading a damn novel. I read for entertainment and pleasure. I’m usually not one for the self-help stuff. Had a roomie who couldn’t get enough of that stuff one time. Just can’t understand why people need books to tell them how to live. However I have and will read some books to change/enhance/alter my philosophical outlook from time to time.
Blast away but I think the arguement of what a novel, book, etc. requires to be considered literature is bullshit.
DAN C - I beg to differ. While reading can enrich your quality of life, it is still just a form of communication. Meeting people, doing things, and going places will also enrich your life.
Reading is a wonderful thing to do, but it isn’t going to solve all of your problems in life. It’s not the only way to build a vocabulary, learn something new, or broaden your perspective. Saying that reading is wonderful is like saying that a good diet and training regimen will build a good body - we all know it’s true and should educate those who aren’t aware (typically the youngin’s) of the fact.
I really love reading, so I’m not trying to be a party-pooper on this thread. But I really love a lot of other things in life too.
I love to read. Everything. My house is overflowing with books and all sorts of printed material. I read all through the lunch hour, during breakfast, in the bathroom, etc. I don’t have cable or satellite and the TV only comes on for occassional movies and football.
BTW, I just joined that “Chapter-a-Day” book club and have been reading through the business books there. Good stuff.
I was never a big reader until a few months ago. My ex and I broke up in January and living in central NY, there isn’t much to do in the dead of winter…so I made a decision to put a dent in the Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels of the Century and I am LOVING it. Reading really has been a saving grace for me. Shoot in the past few months, I have read:
A Clockwork Orange
Grapes of Wrath
Catcher in the Rye
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lolita
For Whom the Bell Tolls
A Farewell to Arms
The Sun Also Rises
The Maltese Falcon
As I Lay Dying
Catch-22
Room With a View
Anthem
Not to mention ANY Kurt Vonnegut book I can get my hands on (Slaughterhouse Five, Cats Cradle, etc)
I am def a changed man.
Tony: Wow! That’s quite a reading list.
I’m currently reading Lolita too. Humbert is a real degenerate, yet he’s not totally unsympathetic. He’s also very self-aware; I find it interesting that he’s the observer of his own disease.
Kurt Vonnegut rocks. When I was in my early twenties, I read everything he had written up until that time. I even knew someone who had a copy of Venus on the Half Shell by Kilgore Trout. It was actually penned by an anonymous author. The book was very rare and that bugger of a friend refused to lend it to me. I’ve always regretted not being able to read it.
I’m glad to hear reading has been such a help to you.
Cooked and et.
Jared: I don’t think anybody who posted on this thread was implying reading is all there is. I certainly didn’t intend to say that with my original post. I like a lot of other things in life too.
I love reading, but know that I go to the university I find I don’t have as much time for pleasure-reading as I’d like, plus this whole internet thing is kind of addictive.
Somebody mentioned Flowers for Algernon above. That’s the book with the mouse (and subsequently man) that is made into a genius by some operation right? I hated that book when I read that a few years back, perhaps wrongfully so, people seem to think it’s good.
Cathcher in the Rye was good, although I don’t know if I’d like it now.
To Kill a Mocking Bird was definitely the best foreign book I remember reading, although Vonneguts stuff is pretty cool and makes you think.
Obviously most of what I’ve read has been Danish litterature, being from Denmark and having studied Danish for two years. Lots of good stuff there, but I have no idea what might have been translated or what translations might do the originals justice.
On another note. Ordinary People is an extremely good movie.
/Jacob
reading at the same time inspires and satisfies a thirst for knowledge.
Reading the Iliad right now, an obviously fantastic epic poem thats fun to digest when translated well.
How wreid is tihs?
Just thought I’d share something interesting about reading:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig!
A love of reading helped me ace the verbal reasoning section of the MCAT. Of course it has done far more than just that. My room is FULL of books! I would say my books are pretty much my most valued posessions.
MD,
HAHA…yeah I finished reading Lolita a few weeks ago and it was definetely interesting. I’m thinking about renting the movie sometime. But yeah, Humbert is a bit of a “scumbag”, but like you said…you tend to by sympathetic towards the bastard…haha
And YES…I freakin LOVE Vonnegut. The first book I read of his was Slaughterhouse Five (cause it was on that list I was talking about) and after I read that…I started readimg more of his stuff and it is truely amazing stuff. As of right now, out of all of Vonnegut’s stuff I have read, my top 5 are:
Hocus Pocus
Cat’s Cradle
Breakfast of Champions
Slaughterhouse Five
Mother Night
Right now I am reading Deadeye Dick. What’s cool is that I live 10 minutes away from Cornell University and that is where he went to school.
I’m also a big fan of Hemingway’s stuff as well. Out of his BIG 3, I didn’t care for The Sun Also Rises that much, but I loved A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls
Rep9210…I LOVED To Kill a Mockingbird as well. Actually just finished reading that earlier this week. Most kids in the US read it in high school, but I never did. Better late than never yeh?