Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 5635247" data-attributes="member: 52734">Before the internet boom (we're talking like '95), I used to read quite a lot of books.  Of course, I used to have a lot of extra time on my hands as well.In grade school, I spend a good chunk of my recess and lunch in the library.  At first, it was reading books (I remember Encylopedia Brown mysteries, the CS Lewis books, 3-2-1 magazine and some book about fossil-hunting I read at least 3 times over the years).  When I moved to Mississippi in my teens, it was too hot to be outside, I remember spending my summers locked in an AC'ed room with the latest book I'd checked out listening to a Blondie cassette as I read (couldn't get a Rock'n'Roll radio station and the tape was the only one I had).  I remember devouring the likes of the entire Dragonlance series, The Book of Swords series and rereading Beowulf several times.  All in-between playing D&D, that is.As I reached college, my recreational reading dropped off dramatically.  The last book I remember reading before college was a novelization of the movie Aliens.  I did quite a bit of story-writing during college, but I don't remember reading any books for recreation during that time at all - besides D&D rulebooks and adventures.I used to have a 1 1/2 hour commute to work for two years while I was working in Atlanta (my wife was in Gainsville, getting her college degree).  It was then I started to listen to audio books to and from work.  At the time, they were mostly Star Wars books.  I also picked up the likes of Redwall on audio.When I got back to a job with a short commute, I also stopped reading (or I should say "listening") to books, until after "discovering" Harry Potter following the first movie.  For the first time in years, I sat down and read the Chamber of Secrets.  The rest of the books I listened to on audio - I could do other things while I was listening to the audio.  Did the same for the Lord of the Rings series and the Eragon books.  Obviously, listening to the book on audio has become my preferred method of interacting with literature.  Oddly enough, I still find myself buying a physical copy of the book.  I really don't understand why I do, though.Although, recently, I did take the time to sit down and read H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and Dracula on my iPad.  I kinda surprised myself at that; I had more or less really impressed upon my self I didn't have the time to sit down and read it.  Dracula I read while away for a week at training.  At the Mountains of Madness was me trying to put a stressful situation out of my mind.Overall, I really think reading has changed because there are so many choices these days - and so many offerings for entertainment.  Books are generally slow, attention-consuming slogs; they are the worst way to gain information.  An audio books frees you up to do other things while you listen.  A movie version takes considerably less time, and you are somewhat free to undertake other activities while watching it.  People still want entertainment, but, like me, I think most people don't think they have the time to sit down and read a book for that entertainment.Likewise, I personally despise the stance on "the classics" as "must" reading.  There's way too many varied books and information out there these days that the so-called classics can be held up as "must" reading.  The few classics I've read are pretty boring (even poor Odyssey and Dracula - don't get me started on Shakespeare's stuff), and there are handfuls of other books I'd rather have on my reading list than have some "classic" shoved down my throat because someone else thought it was the bee's knees....And this is coming from a 41-year-old, no less.</blockquote>

Verification