I not only love to read, it's essential. I didn't realize until my mid-20s that not everybody can pick up a book and become immersed in the story. Doesn't matter if it's a detective story or science fiction or romance, once I pick it up, I'm in the story. If I don't have something to read, even for a few minutes, I can't get to sleep. I once had an airline lose the book I'd brought for a multi-day trip and had to make do with an abandoned People magazine until I could get out to a bookstore the next day. Nowadays I never leave the house without my Kindle. I'm doing my best to fill it up with my old favorites that I re-read regularly. For the most part that's SF and fantasy because I learned early on that those make me slow down and think while other genres generally don't. Jan
I am always reading and love it. I usually read biographical or technical stuff; very little fiction. Strange too because I love to watch sci-fi; just don't read it.
I consider myself a very slow reader, too, especially when it comes to reading fiction novels. When I was a teen, it would take me at least a few weeks to finish a TNG paperback. It took me almost a month to finish reading Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm a very visual reader and like to picture things in my mind as I read. This can be both a blessing and a bane. Yes, I enjoy the imagery that I conjure up in my head, but at what cost? And having a short attention span, I get distracted easily and feel I have to take a break after a while. True, I only started with PoA because I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. That was the first and only novel I've read so far, and I made myself sit alone in a quiet room to read it. Several times. Just to give everyone an idea of how many books I own, here's an old list that I haven't updated lately, which means I have more titles I haven't yet catalogued. 30 Second Mysteries Case Files A Dictionary of American Idioms, Fourth Edition America's Presidents An Invitation to Health Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife Art: A World History Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide Big Book of Brain Games, The Brain Strains Power Puzzles Business English Comparative Politics in Transition Complete Book of Dreams DC Comics Encyclopedia DC: 52, Aftermath - The Four Horsemen DC: 52, Volume 1 DC: 52, Volume 2 DC: 52, Volume 3 DC: 52, Volume 4 DC: Blackest Night DC: Countdown to Final Crisis, Volume 1 DC: Day of Vengeance, Countdown to Infinite Crisis DC: Final Crisis DC: Infinite Crisis DC: Infinite Crisis Companion DC: OMAC Project, Countdown to Infinite Crisis DC: Rann-Thanagar War, Countdown to Infinite Crisis DC: Sinestro Corps, Volume 1 DC: Sinestro Corps, Volume 2 DC: Villains United, Countdown to Infinite Crisis DC: World War III Dinosaur Encyclopedia Do You Know the Real You? Encyclopedia of Earth, The: A Complete Visual Guide Exiles, Volume 1 Exiles, Volume 2: A World Apart Exiles, Volume 3: Out of Time Exiles, Volume 4: Legacy Exiles, Volume 5: Unnatural Instincts Eyewitness Travel: Las Vegas Fabulous Creatures and Other Magical Beings Favorite Folktales from Around the World Geographica's World Reference Giant 1001 Puzzle Book, The Ginormous Book of Dirty Jokes Grimm Fairy Tales, Volume 1 Grimm Fairy Tales, Volume 2 Grimm Fairy Tales, Volume 3 Guide to Getting It On Hammond World Almanac World Factbook Hammond World Almanac: Book of the United States Handling Difficult People Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide Holy Bible (New International Version) Human Human Body Book, The Introduction to Sociology James Bond: The Secret World of 007 Jesus of the Bible, The JLA Avengers Justice League 1: Tornado's Path Justice League 2: The Lightning Saga Justice League 3: The Injustice League Justice League 4: Sanctuary Justice League 5: Second Coming Justice League 6: When Worlds Collide Justice League 7: Team History Justice League Elite, Volume 1 Justice League Elite, Volume 2 Justice League: American Dreams Justice League: Crisis of Conscience Justice League: Divided We Fall Justice League: Earth 2 Justice League: Golden Perfect Justice League: Identity Crisis Justice League: Justice for All Justice League: Justice, Volume 1 Justice League: Justice, Volume 2 Justice League: Justice, Volume 3 Justice League: League of One Justice League: New World Order Justice League: Obisidian Age (Book 2) Justice League: Obsidian Age (Book 1) Justice League: One Million Justice League: Riddle of the Beast Justice League: Rock of Ages Justice League: Rules of Engagement Justice League: Strength in Numbers Justice League: Syndicate Rules Justice League: Technis Imperative Justice League: Terror Incognita Justice League: The Tenth Circle Justice League: Tower of Babel Justice League: Trial by Fire Justice League: Ultramarine Corps Justice League: Virtue and Vice Justice League: World Without Justice League Kokology 2 Life Application Study Bible (New Internation Version) LOST Encyclopedia MacBeth (Barron's Simply Shakespeare) MacMillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Myths & Legends Magandang Balita Biblia Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 1 Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 1: X-Men Marvel Encyclopedia, The Marvel Ultimates 2.1: Gods & Monsters Marvel Ultimates 2.2: Grand Theft America Marvel Ultimates 3: Who Killed the Scarlet Witch Marvel: Secret Invasions Marvel: Ultimate Power Marvel: Ultimatum Marvel: Ultimatum - Requiem Marvel: Civil War Marvel: Civil War - Marvel Universe Marvel: Decimation - X:Men, The 198 Marvel: Decimation - X-Men, The Day After Marvel: House of M Marvel: Marville Marvel: X-Men, Messiah Complex Merck Manual of Medical Information, 2nd Home Edition Mythology (DK Eyewitness Companions) National Geographic Essential Visual History of the Bible National Geographic Essential Visual History of World Mythology New X-Men (Volume 1 Hardcover) New X-Men, Volume 3: New Worlds New X-Men, Volume 4: Riot at Xavier's New X-Men, Volume 5: Assault on Weapon X New X-Men, Volume 6: Planet X New X-Men, Volume 7: Here Comes Tomorrow Personology: The Precision Approach to Charting Your Life & Career Presidents Fact Book Quotable Star Trek Random House Webster's College Dictionary Reader's Digest Book of Puzzles & Brain Teasers Rules of Life, The Rules of Work, The Secret Universe of Names, The Simple Chinese Astrology Star Trek Chronology Star Trek: Alien Spotlight, Volume 1 Star Trek: Year Four Star Wars Episode One Visual Dictionary Star Wars Episode Three Visual Dictionary Star Wars Episode Two Visual Dictionary Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology Story of Christianity, The Streetfigther Tribute Teen Titans #1: A Kid's Game Teen Titans #11: Deathtrap Teen Titans #2: Family Lost Teen Titans #3: Beast Boys and Girls Teen Titans #4: The Future is Now Teen Titans #5: Life and Death Teen Titans #6: Titans Around the World Teen Titans #7: Titans East Teen Titans #8: On the Clock Teen Titans #9: On the Clock Timelines of World History Titans: Old Friends Tolkien's World - Paintings of Middle Earth Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Movie Guide) Ultimate Guide to the Justice League of America Uncanny X-Men, Volume 1: Hope Uncanny X-Men, Volume 2: Dominant Species Uncanny X-Men, Volume 3: Holy War Uncanny X-Men, Volume 4: The Draco Uncanny X-Men, Volume 6: Bright New Mourning Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die Urban Legends Uzumaki: The Art of Naruto Vatican, The: Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City What Type Am I? Who are You? 101 Ways of Seeing Yourself Wizardology World Religions Here's a list of magazines I subscribe(d) to: Entertainment Weekly Smithsonian National Geographic Traveler The Food Network Magazine Condé Nast Travel
I'm not sure where you're from, but you might want to consider volunteering with a literacy group. Think of everything that reading has done for you, and then imagine what it must be like to be an illiterate adult. I know it was a life-changing experience for me, and seeing how passionate you are about reading, I just thought I'd offer it up as something to think about!
^Excellent suggestion, Kestra. I taught literacy-level writing and math to adults and loved it. I felt like I was opening up a whole new world for them.
It's so gratifying, isn't it? The man I was paired up with was having a son and wanted to be able to read to him because he wasn't able to do that with his two older children. There are so many things that we take for granted.
^^ That's nice. It seems like literacy is treated with disdain these days. You know what Nietzsche said: "If you stare long enough at the letters, the letters stare back at you."
Computer games are not something to be outgrown. Especially when you're ultra-enthusiastic about your comic book collection
I love reading. I love my Kindle because I read much more frequently nowadays. It's certainly so much easier to peruse Amazon and download something rather than heading to the book-store, charity shop or library.
Alas, I must say I was quite immersed in City of Heroes/City of Villains MMO up until a year before the online game shut down. Ahh, the good old days of farming and Double XP weekends. But I was never really a hardcore gamer, averaging only 3 to 4 hours per week until I lost interest.
Ahem... you are aware of the fact that Nietzsche died in a loonie asylum, aren't you? Sorry about the late reply - I only just discovered the thread. I learned how to read at the age of 3 and ever since nothing in print has been safe from me. When I was at primary school I used to wake up in the night and I would always sneak to my dad's office and read the 12 volume lexicon You may know the effect from Wikipedia: you look something up, find an interesting keyword, follow that to a different article which leads you to a third and so you get from meatballs to streetcars. My eyes aren't that good anymore and I appreciate this new invention of ebook readers that allow me to enlargen the print. Also, in digital form books take up so much less space. Plus I can easliy edit out typos and bad grammar =) (the noble custom of proof reading appears to have been abolished). I used to read in every spare minute, alas, the older I get, the less time do I find for reading Recently I started to sell those books I am not interested in anymore but I still have half a moving van of book crates.