dear Ambellina the Prise wishes you to watch over me

[enthusiastick]

theferrett posted a poll thing recently asking about movies or miniseries that would get made, in your ideal world, and who would be cast in them. And as I sat there trying to puzzle out an answer it occurred to me that I don't read enough books lately. All the things that were coming to mind involved books I read over a year ago at this point, at least. The last big book I read was Harry Potter 7, and before that I think it might have been Elizabeth Kostova's the Historian. Man, how did things get this bad?

I was a voracious reader almost from the time I could parse words on the page. I was one of those kids who would get yelled at to put the book down, turn out the light, and go to sleep already. And who would often resort to reading under the covers with a flashlight in defiance of parental injunctions. I remember I read so fast that my parents worried about whether I was even retaining the stuff I was burning through. When I was younger, my father read the Hobbit to me (a memory I still cherish) and before we started each night he would make me recount what had come before, to prove that I had been adequately paying attention. If I couldn't, we had to re-read the previous section together.

My book-reading tapered off in high school and college, of course, as these things do. I got busier and interested in other things, and my tastes became more discerning, so that rather than devouring whatever I could lay hands on I started asking for and listening to recommendations for good books. I've never been a magazine reader, but somewhere along the line I started reading graphic novels. Say what you will about the format, I've found that the best of them offer the same depth and satisfaction as reading a good book, but in a format that's shorter to read (although it often requires the same amount of intellectual digestion -- or in some cases, like say the Invisibles, more.)

But in the last few years I've read actual books hardly at all, maybe 4 or 5 a year, and I don't exactly know why. I've got a decent commute these days: 30 to 45 minutes on the train, only having to change trains once. I ought to get a book and try and get back into the habit. Those muscles have atrophied, metaphorically speaking, and I'm sure it will take a little bit of doing to get started again. I've never liked that 50 books a year meme, as it emphasizes quantity over quality, but maybe I ought to give it a try in 2008. The worst thing that happens is that I fail to achieve the goal, and maybe in the meantime I'll become a reader again. That would probably be a good thing.

Comments

[adampb.livejournal.com]

Somewhere along the line it sort of dawned on me that I have entirely lost my taste for fiction in prose form.

I still read more than most Americans, I think, not that that's difficult--books about sociology and economics and film and art. (I read very quickly, which helps.) But non-fiction entirely. Fiction comes into my life through movies and comics and the occasional play or TV show.

There are very few I've talked to who just sort of stopped reading novels but still retained an interest in the other sections of the library. One of my old high school math teachers comes to mind, though. "I like a nice ugly history with all the details left in, and no one can sue 'cause they're dead."

[macabre-grrl.livejournal.com]

You can do it! I just pig out at the library. I have a stack of books on the floor that is up to my knees.

[manslayerliz.livejournal.com]

Good, lemme know if you read anything worthwhile! In the meantime, why not check out my faves for the year:
Time Traveler's Wife by Aundrey Niffenegger (Oh man did I love this one)
City Infernal by Edward Lee
Lisey's Story by Stephen King
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (All these years putting it off, but what do you know, if you get past the misogyny it's not half bad!)
Belinda by Anne Rice (I'm not about to make any excuses for enjoying this, it was bitchin!)
Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum (This one comes witha warning--- you might actually never sleep again.)

[theshanakee.livejournal.com]

"Hello, iPod? This is book-on-tape. I think it's time we got together."

I know some people feel this is not the pure way to get your reading pleasure, but it solves the problem of having to start and stop the story when changing trains. You get more "reading" for your money.

[playinggodagain.livejournal.com]

The R.R. Martin books jump to the front of my line but those would have to be a series of movies I think.

[dystopiac.livejournal.com]

Not sure how much Vonnegut you've read, but I always recommend him. I have Player Piano and/or Galapagos somewhere, which I'd be happy to recommend/lend (unless I've already lent them out and forgotten to whom).

I've experienced the exact same phenomenon - I spent most of my childhood with a book in my hand at all times, and now I read very little if at all. I have to assume, at least in my case, that the internet is partially to blame.

[sleetfall.livejournal.com]

I have a book for you that you will love. I keep meaning to give it to you to read... I'm putting it out to lend you tomorrow.

Anyhow, I have a similar problem. These days I tend to go through reading spurts. I'll go for two months without reading a book, then I'll cram 6 or 7 into a month and just not see daylight. I need to learn to spread them out and read constantly again.