Slightly OT: Do you go through binge/purge cycles with reading?

[FatherRob]

So, I know this is not exactly Trek related, but I am wondering -

Does anyone else vascillate in their enthusiasim for pleasure reading, or in how they do so. I read a lot and enjoy doing so, but over the past few years I have noticed this extreme variation developing in my life...

Right now I am on a reading binge... I have been reading a novel every day or two for about three weeks... and have an absolute craving. I just came off a purge where about the only reading I did was work related (i.e., religious texts for study or sermon prep and Trek books for TrekMovie). In the past five years, I have noticed I run in about six month hyper-reading streches, followed by six or seven, up to eight month non-reading streches.

Anyone else have a similar pattern?

Rob+

 

[Defcon]

Yeah, I go to through cycles in my reading, too. There is no really pattern to it though. One week I go through several books, in other weeks I barely read a chapter. Right now it's more of the second and the time for Trek Lit I do have I spend on other things, like working on interviews/articles for Unreality SF.

(Shameless Plug: There will be a new interview available in the next week or so if anything goes according to plan. )

 

[Bishbot]

I read steadily. I've always got a book on the go, but I tend to take longer to read the first 100 pages of a book than the rest of it. I do, however, go through periods of increased enthusiasm where I'll make an effort to read more. Currently I'm very much in a Trek-related one, probably due to the movie. I've read seven Trek books in the last three weeks and I've got another on the go. When that's calmed down, I probably won't read any Trek for a year or more, before devouring a load more.

 

[John Clark]

I pretty much always have a book on the go. However, I do go into overdrive reading when on vacation

 

[Lonemagpie]

I never go off reading, but I do go through cycles of fiction/nonfiction, and genre.

 

[indianatrekker26]

I'm always reading. In the fall/winter, I'm into reading mostly Star Trek and Star Wars. Summertime, I tend to flip over to Horror, with alot of Stephen King. In fact, that just happened to me about a week or so ago. I've already got a bunch of summer King reading lined up. Duma key, Dreamcatcher, From a Buick 8, The Green Mile, Insomnia and Bag of Bones are all on my list.

 

[Smiley]

I almost always read a little bit during my lunch break. However, unless I'm reading a particularly engaging book, I won't usually do much reading after work. My reading level does wax and wane, although there's no definite pattern to it.

 

[Trent Roman]

As a student, I do lots and lots of reading during the term, although most of it tends not to be 'pleasure reading'... during the summer, to make up for vacillating production during the rest of the year, I look to get lots of writing done instead, so I'm still not getting all that much pleasure reading done. I vigourously defend my half-an-hour before bed curled up with a book from all other demands on my time, so I can't say I ever willingly take breaks from reading, although circumstances do impose themselves at times...

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[JD]

I pretty much always in the process of reading at least one book, but the number and type of books I'm reading do tend to vary. Sometimes I'll be reading 2-3 Trek books, sometimes it's 1 or 2 Trek books and a non-Trek, or sometimes one Trek and one non-Trek. Since I read pretty much all of the different Trek series, I'm almost always reading at least one Trek book, either the current months or an older one I never got around to reading when it first came out.

 

[SicOne]

I usually have two or three books going on at any given time, and read about 50-100 pages a day, depending on how slow things are at work. Sometimes less book reading, depending on if I have picked up the day's paper, or have work-related reading or studying to do. Right now, I'm on a zombie apocalypse book kick, having read about a half-dozen of those in the past two weeks, then will probably tuck back into Trek.

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

No, I don't go through cycles of reading. I usually read at least one hour a day for pleasure.

 

[S. Gomez]

I'm constantly reading as well, though how long it takes me to read a given book depends entirely on my interest level, other things cropping up, etc. I hardly ever go a day without reading at least a bit.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I admit that I tend to read more comics and manga than anything else, but given how much of that stuff I have, I'm reading constantly throughout the day--every day.

With novels, however, I do tend to go through cycles where I may go the better part of an entire year without buying one and then may buy several books over the course of a few months. But I've been noticing than since the TNG relaunch, I've probably bought more Trek books now on a regular basis than ever before...

 

[SicOne]

I try not to have a book around when going through a binge and purge cycle, so I don't get vomit on it.

 

[seigezunt]

I go through cycles of genre. I alternate between "real" lit, heady religious writings, self-help, technical manuals, and then just plain popcorn. I'm in a popcorn phase right now, gobbling up TOS novels, mostly because of the movie. The divergent universe has got me interested in the variety of "non-canon" excitement of the early novels. I was in the middle of reading JRR Tolkien's 12-volume history of middle earth, for which I see a long hiatus now.

 

[CaptKirk]

I never stop reading but am like Father Rob in that I will binge on ST for a few months and then back off and read somethings unrelated ...like Cussler ... and then come back.

 

[Claudia]

I'm like that as well - around 2000/2001 I almost exclusively read every ST-book that I got my hands on. From 2002 onwards to 2006/7 (during that time I was focused on Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Vorkosigan etc. *g*) practically none except for Crucible, now I'm back in TrekLit but I try to vary my reading list in order not to "overread" on ST again...

 

[Ktrek]

I have to say the BEFORE the Internet I read a lot more books than I do now. A shame really because I enjoy reading immensely. Still, I do have at least one novel I am working through at any given time and one non-fiction type of book. Occasionally more but not often as I like to try and finish what I start before moving on.

Kevin

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

I never stop reading but am like Father Rob in that I will binge on ST for a few months and then back off and read somethings unrelated ...like Cussler ... and then come back.

I'm pretty much the same way. I read mostly Trek, but every once in a hwhile I read something else so I don't get burnt out on Trek.* I mostly read other TV tie-in novels, but I do read the occasional classic story (Sherlock Holmes, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Man of Property, etc.) I don't read much modern original fiction, but there are some exceptions (Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, for example.) And I can't really read non-fiction or anything that doesn't really tell a story. The closest thing I have to non-ficiton is Voyages of the Imagination, which is about fiction, but isn't fiction itself, I think. The only other book I've read that doesn't tell a story, outside of school, is I Am American (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert.

* Right now I'm trying to get caught up on the DS9 relaunch, so it may be a hwhile before I read something else.

 

[Middle Earther]

Trek novels are definitely a cycle for me - I can't read them at all after reading a bunch in a row. I'm starting a new ST cycle - looking toward a bit of light reading to break up my graduate work - I'm immersed in fantasy/Tolkien most of the time in my studies, so that's fun, too! For this summer, I'm looking forward to tackling the whole Destiny series, although I'm going a little backwards as I've started Bennet's Over a Torrent Sea now. I've never been a stickler for "in order", since I rely on the public library for most Trek books.