In which case your mind is so open your brains have fallen out.

I don't read too many novels.

I read a lot of science journals/lectures.

But when I get my hand on a good novel, I usually don't put it down until it is finished.

I really like the book Flatland, since it is a perfect mix of math, science, and plot.

University has basically killed all interest in reading. Which svcks, cause I have a pile of books stacking up to read.

i hate reading books. i like reading manuals, guides, ect.


and in game books of course.

Ed Greenwood did well with his Band of Four series (four books, duh). Very action oriented, but he is very adept at painting a scene with a just a very few well placed descriptions. Contrast this to some books that will try to set up a scene using several paragraphs detailing things such as the precise location of a desk, etc. The books keep up a quick pace and don't suffer from bogging me down with fluff - and yet I am able to have very vivid images in my head of what's going on, as if I had seen an image of it. That's a writing style I like, it's focused, detailed where it needs to be, and doesn't get weighed down by the words. I could totally adapt it to a comic book or video game and not feel I was losing anything.

In contrast, some books I've read will go on and on about political background and setting. or the characters relationship to parents, siblings, institutions, authority, and so on. SHOW me the setting and relationships while the plot is going on, I don't want to read a bloodless/actionless primer to understand what is going on.

Terry Pratchett is also good at that sort of thing, of being able to let your mind fill in the details itself without making you read a literal blueprint for every building.

When I was much younger, i read books regularly. Now that I am older now, I find myself not only lacking the patience to reads the way I used to, but also lack the desire to even try anymore.

newspapers, magazines, and magazine articles are about all that i can stand these days...And Bethesda Forums. :hehe:

I think you're doing it wrong then. Part of the reason you read a book is BECAUSE of all the little details and imagery that flesh out the story and make it real in your head. Perhaps you've not read the right kinds of books either, and I admit that there are authors out there who write bad books, but it could be that you're not really reading them "right".

Doesn't mean you don't have the right to dislike them. Just saying.

As for myself I've read a sad few books since I got out of school and into the Navy. I don't have time to read books anymore, even though I'm trying to read The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss right now. I'll have even less free time starting Monday, so much less that I'm considering just cutting out Internet altogether in order to give me more focus on other recreational things like Anime and reading and video games to enjoy my precious few minutes of relaxation a day.

I like recreational reading but I've done far less since the Internet.

I'm literally never bored if I have access to the Internet, ever.

I think that's a problem. It overstimulates us and then at the end of the day you look at the clock and realize that you've done absolutely nothing at all for the entire day.

Some weekends I'll tell myself "Okay, I'm going to play this video game, and watch this Anime, and read this newspaper" and then I get on the internet and BAM it's 2100 and the day is over.

I know, I used to do so much before I joined BGSF! Still, on the plus side I've learnt so much stuff I wouldn't have had access to without it. I guess eventually I won't have much time to do anything like I used to.

There's a good chance that those who frequent internet forums are also the kinds to read for leisure. I know several people in real life though who don't have the desire or time for novels.

I think you read the wrong book. Or you were looking for the wrong thing.

I admit too many modern writers spent too much time on irrelevant details that could simply be cut off without any effect on storyline nor characer building. A well laid story could not be described simply by wikipedia synopsis.

If you are the quick to the point guy, I would recommend The Black Company series. Glen Cook writes no crap, always straight to the point. Description only spent on important landmarks and folks that have important impacts. So you are seeing many years of time span over single volumn. 10 books out there and you get 80 years of history with more than 5 big cities in just one 400 pages book. It's easy to feel quite overwhelmed with so much happening and plots in just one chapter. Try it out I think you will like it.

I think this is only partially true. A picture may be worth a thousand words in terms of imagery, but I think that films generally seem to be a lot shallower in terms of character establishment and development than a novel might be. This isn't a dig at film's expense in any way; I think it's a great medium and I enjoy it. It's just that your average film is restricted to a 90 minute time frame in which there is a lot of information that needs to be communicated. There are longer films, obviously, but beyond a certain length, I find sitting through the film to become tiring.

The greatest challenge films have is that you can't show thought processes and perceptions easily. Let's say I write a book in first person limited perspective. I can show the development of my character over time just by changing the way I describe things. The way my character perceives the world can be subtly shifted over time to show you dark new corners of their mind. Can't easily do that in a movie.

I love reading, though I go through bouts of disinterest.

Right now I'm trying to get through the Fellowship of the Ring, but I can't go 2 pages without falling asleep. I started this book my second year of college and its 3 years later and they just got to Lothlorien.

Other books I've read like Raiders from the North by Alex Rutherford, Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, and A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin I've read much quicker.

Well, you CAN have first-person narration in a movie; whether or not you think its a good aesthetic decision is something else altogether.

It's not the same though. In a movie, to capture the same effect I have to use expensive special effects. I have to change the images. An internal monologue in a movie just isn't the same as what the words in a book do.

Sure, I agree with you. I was sort of implying that I don't necessarily think using the first-person narrative in a movie is a good aesthetic choice. I think film has some great strengths and advantages in telling a story which are different from what you might find in a novel. They're just different beasts.

First person perspective in a movie? I'd agree that wouldn't be a good choice. I'm just saying that there are so many subtle things you can do in a book to develop a character that you can't do in a movie. Books have the same problem though. There are so many things that subtle physical movements tell us about people that no sane author could convey in the detail that actually seeing the movements conveys.

Replying to the OP's post:

My husband is like Scotty from Star Trek. The only thing he reads are "technical journals." Computer science/electronics & physics. Everything else he ignores. He does like movies/documentaries/TV tho.

I used to love reading. Fast reader, page a minute or more, so you can imagine the speed I devoured books. By late 20's became a bit bored because they all start to seem similar. I still like to re-read my old favorite books, but rarely buy/read any new ones. Because I'm used to reading time-obsessively I have a hard time staying immersed in a story if I can't read it all in one or two long time-blocks, but my back/hands can no longer take lying on a couch with head propped in one hand & holding the book in the other for hours. So that didn't help either & reading kind of fell by the wayside. I still like to read non-fiction where immersion isn't a big factor. History/science & stuff. And forums of course.

You should read Hemingway, if you so despise descriptions of surroundings and/or people. He gets right to the actual stuff happening, so to speak.

People who go on forums, like to communicate through text, of course their going to like reading.
I guess you might be in that minority. I like the detail, lets you come up with your own interpretations of the story or topic.

I like to soak and ingest my reading spending a while maybe even on a sentence. Or just a phrase and try to see what the author was thinknig at the time, how they might be trying to show their views through a character or an event.

People who speed through reading or pride themselves in such things, well I don't see what makes that such a good thing. You can read a book faster? You read through many books in a week? Thats great, I guess, but I like to take an indepth look of the story and take my time not just cram yourself with as much knowledge you will forget later.

I'm not a fan of it at all, like you. I could not name my favorite author (Seriously. I only have ONE favorite book series, and I don't remember the Authors name...). For me, it takes ALOT to get me to read a book, i'v only ever been hooked by one book, and that was "The Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind (I think it's Goodkind... I don't remember). The books enchanted me. I read them on the bus ride to work in the morning, I read them on my lunch break, and on the bus ride home from work. Then sometimes I read them at night.

All in all i'm not a huge fan of novels, but this one series I do like to read.

My husband reads very slow. I read fast. It's neither good or bad, it's just the way we are.

One reason I read in long time chunks is because I'm just plain ol' obsessive in nature (same w/gaming...). But also because you know how you visualize while reading? It's like an actual movie in my head...I stop seeing words. I'm sure I'm not the only one like that. But for me, to continually put a book down several days in a row is like watching a DVD/movie over several days. Some people can do that...to me it breaks immersion/isn't satisfying or something. I dunno.

I see it as a movie too, but I like to replay the events in my head over and over. Looking at different perspectives and maybe different meanings in a scene or something. Yeah using "good" as a word was a dumb to say. My bad.