One of the things that frustrates me about grad school is my inability to read whatever I want while school is in session: I took a literature class last semester, and am taking a nonfiction class this semester, and I find that almost all of my “reading” time has to be devoted to whatever I’m studying. I was halfway through Clive Cussler’s Black Wind when the semester started, and I’m still only halfway through it…and don’t get me started on Stephen Hawking’s The Universe in a Nutshell, which I’ve been trying to finish for months…
I usually prefer fiction, but I’m very interested in the wolf saga: would you recommend this book to someone who hasn’t ever read nature writing? Is it dry?
You seem to like reading this messageboard. That’ counts as reading too, IMHO!
If you’re looking to become “cultured”, a fun way to achieve that is by renting some video’s of famous books made into movies. If you like the story, you might try reading the book afterwards. For instance, try Zeffirelli’s Hamlet by Shakespeare, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close.
“Must reads” are simply anything that has topped the New York Times bestsellerlists for months, in the last five years. Reading a few of those ought to give you something to discuss, in a pinch.
My wife gave me a t-shirt for Christmas that has the word “bibliophile” in big letters across the chest, and a cute dictionary definition underneath it. I wear it proudly.
I have the world’s greatest job(s) for a bibliophile. I’m a writer, and I own a bookstore. Life is good.
There was a scene once in The Gilmore Girls where the mother was complaining that her daughter’s backpack was too full.
The daughter answered that she needed everything in it. There were her school books. Then there was the book that she read on the bus. Then the book she read during lunch. And the book she read if there was downtime that wasn’t either the bus or lunch. And the book that she needed in case she didn’t feel like reading the other three books, so she’d still have something to read.
I thought that was genius (I already have the car book and the purse book, but there have been times where I’ve needed a substitute book).
Yes, an hour a day sounds like a fair amount of time to devote to reading - but looking at what you’re reading, it seems like you’re giving yourself more homework. Even though those books aren’t explicitly assigned by your teachers, you’re still not really reading for enjoyment, you’re adding to your workload. Just because I read a lot doesn’t mean that I’ll read just anything. Some books are difficult, but enjoyable, some are light and enjoyable, and some are just work. I usually have to bribe myself to read the ones in that last group and it seems like they’re all you’re picking.
Find something you actually want to read, no ulterior motives, not because it’ll make you a better business person, not because it’s a best-seller or must read. But something where you like what the author is saying and the way she says it - and then you’ll want to find out what she’s going to say next and keep on reading.
I didn’t find it dry in the least. Since it’s not hitting the streets for another couple of months, you might want to try one of Gary Ferguson’s earlier books on the same subject, The Yellowstone Wolves: The First Year. I would definitely recommend that one to someone interested in wolves that hasn’t read nature writing before.
The wolf debate usually has two sides: “wolf huggers” who think wolves are more important than people, and ranchers who think wolves are evil incarnate. Ferguson does a good job of explaining both sides of the issue–how wolves usually eat only what momma teaches them to eat, but if they do develop a taste for mutton, they usually need to be killed.
Is it just me, or do other people (readers) have problems with AudioBooks and the like? I just can’t focus without the words. The only books that have ever seemed right on AudioBooks are those which are narrated to begin with, like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or the various Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Anything written in third person just doesn’t work for me.
Are we related? I’ve taken books to the movies, too - kid’s movies that I had no interest in watching, but my kids wanted to see, and yes, I took my Itty Bitty Book Light with which to read. I paid $7.50 to read in the dark while Scooby-Doo blared in the background. :rolleyes:
I have a huge pile of To-Be-Read books on the nightstand, a somewhat smaller pile on the floor (the pile on the nightstand was threatening to topple over), and another pile on the dresser. When I come home from the crack house … er, bookstore, my husband just gives me The Look and rolls his eyes.
Actually, I don’t pay full price for most of them. I buy lots of them at the thriftstore or used book store or off the library sale shelf.
I always carry a book with me, in case I have to wait and there’s nothing to do. I have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow, and rather than read the outdated magazines in the waiting room, I’ll read my book, currently The Time-Traveler’s Wife.
I even have an emergency stash in my car. There’s a couple of books I’ve already read, and one or two that I haven’t read yet. Just in case, you know?
I’m always intrigued by people who, when they are waiting somewhere, just sit and stare. WTF are they doing?
While I like reading and probably go through 50 or more books in a good year, there are some years where I probably go through only 10 or 20. Last year, it took me about four months to make it through a 600 pager because, while I love reading, I like the internet and various other things more and only read for an hour or two in bed while I’m trying to sleep as the two dozen magazines, anthropolgy textbook, history of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, and history of the Zimmerman telegram on my end table will attest to.
It’s just not an overwhelming desire to a lot of us, even those that enjoy reading themselves. Despite my own closet full of books at my mom’s house, reading about some of the stashes some of you people have is making me shake my head.
[Charlton Heston voice]They can have my books when the come and pry them from my cold, dead hands! [/Charlton Heston voice] :eek:
However, I’ll note that I rarely read magazines (other than Nature, Science and occasionally Scientific American), I don’t watch television ('cept in bars or hotels), and I don’t socialize all that much. Books may not be as fulfilling but they don’t get shocked by my lack of social skills and don’t say spiteful things.
Still, I’d be better off if I could ease off the book habit a bit and maybe find some less, um, isolated activities I could enjoy. Unfortunately, all of the activities I enjoy that don’t involve books I still prefer to do on my own, save for se…oh, never mind. TMI.
I have probably 300 books stashed away myself! The only thing I don’t do is read when I walk, because I know I will trip over things, like painted lines. I get too into books.
I have a stash of books in my car. I read while cooking. I read while eating. I read while getting ready in the morning. if I could read in the damn shower I would.
I listen to audiobooks! And then I read them, if they’re good enough. Reading is my sin and my greatest pleasure.
I read a lot. If I go on an errand, and there’s a chance I’ll have to wait someplace, I take a book. When I’m in line at the post office, everybody but me is grumbling and tapping their feet. I’m reading.
I haven’t tried audio books yet. My sister-in-law gave me two books on CD, but I haven’t listened to them. One is about dealing with change in the church (Who Moved My Jesus,) and the other is about marine biology (The Porpoise-Driven Life.)
I LOVE reading. I majored in American Lit because I love reading. I have about 4 books going at the moment from history of women in America to my fluffy murder mystery series with talking cats. I even have a poetry compulsion - I collect anthologies. hehe
I try to buy my purses just large enough to hold a small book. I always bring a book so that I don’t have to sit around with nothing to do. It makes me so happy that others do it as well!
I try to get in 2-3 hours of reading a day counting my lunch hour and before I go to bed. I have about 6 books from Christmas just waiting to be picked up but I’m a fluff kick at the moment.
For anyone who’s really into literature - ie read a decent amount of classics and a wide genre range - and enjoys literary allusions I HIGHLY recommend Jasper Fforde and his Thursday Next series. Very creative, funny, and heavy in the literature department. He has 4 in the series out at the moment.
InvisibleWombat: I am SOOO jealous. My mini fantasy is to own a bookstore. Money and business sense keep me from it.
In conclusion - I am an unabashed bibliophile. (BiblioCat - that’s a rockin’ name!)
My house is six rooms, seven if you count the basement. All but one room has at least one bookshelf in it; the basement has three. The only room without a bookshelf, the bathroom, has reading material sitting on the toilet.
In fact, I have books stashed all over the place, because I generally read five or six books at once. I’ve got the book I’m reading in the dining room for when I’m eating and don’t have company; I’ve got the book in the bathroom; I’ve got the book in the kitchen for down moments when I’m cooking; I’ve got several books in my office at work; and I carry a book around in the car so I don’t get caught without.
I don’t measure the books in my house by individual titles. I measure them by feet of shelf space. Between me and my wife, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if our collective library reaches mid four figures.
I was reading while walking the day I got hit and broke my leg. I had stopped reading when I reached the intersection so it had nothing to do with the accident but my lawyer gave me the weirdest look when I mentioned it to him since he told me to tell him everything I remembered.
I’ve seen pictures of it from one 'fest or another and I’m a bit envious. If I ever become wealthy, I’m definitely going to have a library with ceiling to floor bookshelves and lots of comfortable couches to lounge in while reading.
It’s having a dozen books stashed away in your car and every room of the house “just in case” that makes me quirk my eyebrow though.
I started recording the titles and authors of all the books I’ve been reading. I began the list on Dec. 4th. So far there are twenty-one read all the way through. Several Bill Bryson, some Connie Willis, a bunch of random favourite authors, books that friends have loaned me. Most are three hundred pages and up. It doesn’t count all the times a day I pick up a book and read a few pages, and then put it down again. I cannot live without books. I probably read upwards of three hours a day.
I work in a bookstore. No, I’m not allowed to read at work, but damn, it’s good to be so near so many books.
We don’t have tv, and don’t go to movies very often. Lots of time to read.
Yes, I knew someone would say “thinking” and I certainly meant no disrespect, but I often find myself in situations where I can whip out a book and amuse myself, but find other people are bored. They have nothing to do, so they just have to sit or walk around in a small area and they’re sighing and tapping their feet or drumming their fingers. I always think, “If they had a book or a magazine, they wouldn’t be bored.”
When my daughter was in church choir, some of us stayed and waited during rehearsals, rather than going back home (it was too far to bother). We’d bring books or magazines to pass the time, and just scatter up and down the hallway, quietly reading. There was one dad who didn’t bring anything, and would just pace up and down the hall for an hour, sighing loudly. He’d read the notices on the bulletin board over and over, pace, play with his cell phone, pace, look out the window, pace some more, and if they ran five minutes over, would loudly proclaim, “It’s about time!” when the kids got out.
I was always tempted to tell him to find a book and bring it with him. If I had to pass an hour in a church basement with absolutely nothing to do, I’d go nuts.
Are we related? I’ve taken books to the movies, too - kid’s movies that I had no interest in watching, but my kids wanted to see, and yes, I took my Itty Bitty Book Light with which to read. I paid $7.50 to read in the dark while Scooby-Doo blared in the background. :rolleyes: