Had to read a lot of russian classics in school, cause I thought i would go deeper into humanities later in life. I've found that values taught in classics are not right for me. Russian classics(except Checkhov) teach passive contemplation. I've tried to integrate these 'lessons' into my life, but failed, obviously.
I re-read Checkhov and Dovlatov(you may have heard about him) because their prose is amusing and theraqeutic.
Overall I don't see much point in reading fiction. Non-fiction and documentaries are more entertaining and useful to me.
I might get into greek philosophy(especially Ethics) later. And try some good American writers like Jack London. Maybe that will teach me something.

I rarely read fiction. I have, in the past, read the Classics that I've wanted to read, and an occasional Clive Cussler book or two; but I am basically a non-fiction reader.
I have a lot of hobbies, and I enjoy reading material that deal with them.

My school made us read tons of slave narratives which eventually got boring since it's all the same. Started reading Mein Kampf but hitlers rambling is getting old very quickly. I enjoy reading books about birds.

Russian literature is product of its times. If you read into the authors' background and socio-economic circumstances, things become much much clearer. The most upbeat Russian novelist I've read was "The Overcoat" by Gogol - and that was depressing as well. Stay away from Russia. I swear, that country does things to people.

EDIT: Greek plays are pretty good. Medea, Oedipus Rex, Jason and the Argonauts and Birds should set you right in terms of literature. People bandy Plato's "Republic" a lot but "The Laws" is a great deal more pragmatic revision of his earlier work.

I actually live in Russia and you're correct about the circumstances, I know about them because studying the writers' backgrounds was neccesary In order to pass the exam.
I don't know about what it does to people...I can't really compare because I haven't visited any foreign countries yet.
The literature did things to me It basically [censored] my brain. The constant judgement of anything that is not considered holy or compassionate enough was such a pressure. It wouldn't be so bad If I wasn't a perfectionist who tried to go as deeply into the writers' minds as possible.

Some people just don't like it. I know quite a number of people, it's just one of those things. To each their own. Personally I love it.

I went through a period of a couple years where I had to read a lot of screenplays for work and TBH I couldn't stand reading much of anything at all during my free time, unless it was a specific novel that we were adapting into a script.

After I quit that job, I started reading novels again.

Im always reading something..

currently reading 'IT' atm.. by stephen king.

also writing my own fantasy novel.

I either love it or hate it. If I'm really in to the book the idea of seeing a movie associated to it puts me off, as it will destroy the world I have envisioned in my head. But for the generic book, I usually can't get through the first 3 chapters without putting it down. Most people I know are something like this.

I can't stand reading. I'm sure it shows sometimes too, as my vocabulary isn't as prolific as others.

Let me put into spectrum how much i dislike reading.

My job sometimes requires creating proposals and creative strategies when pitching an advertisemant or design piece. Sometimes these proposals can be dozens of pages long as the big suites like to see information and demographics behind everything. I have no problem producing it but when it comes to checking it for errors and the like, I pay someone to read it over, check it for gramatical errors and other typos and then I write it off.

Thats how much I dislike reading.

I hate reading books, I only enjoy reading stuff on the internet and in video games.

I don't really read a lot of novels

Most of my reading is from history books and philosophy. On occasion though I do like to read a novel every once in a while for entertainment (usually it's got to have some dark humor in it) but other than that I can't say I've read a whole lot of novels.

Edit: Also, did I mention I hate peer reviews? I hate reading my peers papers. They don't particularly like mine either since my first draft is typically filled with sarcasm and stupid jokes and they're not used to that in an academic paper (let me be clear though that most of the time I do change the paper to have a more academic tone when the final draft though). Mostly, I don't like their papers because they are dreadfully boring. I had picked up a copy of our school paper recently and one of my classmates had written an article and it was like pulling teeth it was so boring and dull.

I love to read, have loved to read since I was a child(about 4 years old is when I started). I read about a book or three a week(300-500 pages each), and will re-read the same books about once every year and a half. I have a collection of about 500 books(I used to have over 2k, but that's another story), and I'm constantly adding to it(I love finding large book sales that sell paperbacks for 50 cents and hard-cover for 1-3 bucks). I read anything from Fantasy to Science Fiction, to Horror to Mystery, to Non-Fiction to Poetry. As long as it's interesting, I"ll read it(and to determine if I find it interesting, I'll give it at least 50 pages, often 100 before I"ll give up on it, which I can only recall having ever done Once, ever).

I replay it by re-reading the book. Most of my fave books have been re-read nearly a dozen times.
I don't read/buy new fiction novels as much as I used to, but I still like a good short-story collection, since I can read each story in one brief sitting. No immersion breakage.


I'm the same way, Starwulf. I've read too many books where after about 100 pages it suddenly became "omg this is great", so I try to give books that benefit of the doubt before giving up. The biggest example of that for me was Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. The start was so slow to me...but it suddenly took off at one point and zoooom.

Yeah, some books can be really slow to start, but just about the time I'm ready to say "Screw it, I'm done", BOOM, plot hook, advancement, excitement, and I'm reading it till the end. Most recent one for me was Abaranth by Clive Barker. Such a wierd book, and it started soooo slowly. I made it almost halfway through the book before it really started to pick up. Just glad I gave it a bit more time then usual. I could see the potential in it, and it finally delivered.

I love reading. Too bad I hate all the books they assign to us in school.

i dont like novels. however i do like pop-ups, golden books and "choose your own adventure" books.

If I don't read something every day: newspapers/reports/books/forums//workrelated materials/magazines/labels/sundries on grocery store shelves, I will go bat [censored] insane.
As far as entertainment reading, I prefer gardening magazines, cookbooks, cultural magazines, historical and science fiction, and the occasional mystery. I am in the minority at work in the book swapping club, the other ladies prefer romance.