Who reads books?

[glynnahab]

Some of my personal favorites include Bukowski, Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Palahniuk, etc. And I know this is gay as hell, but I actually have a favorite author.

Tom Robbins pwns.

[pixelbender]

I don't have the time and further the patience to read books. I don't even have the patience to finish a comprehensive post. Reading random shit and trite phrases online ftw.

[pocket]

I love haruki murakami, and irvine welsh.

Just got Arcade Mania in the mail today, time to start crackin'

[Flashman85]

Another Crichton fan here, but I'm finding Disclosure a little dense because it's too... realistic. I prefer to entertain myself with things that don't completely resemble real life, because I can get my fill of that any time.

I almost exclusively read sci-fi when I was younger, but gave up reading in favor of other activities such as acting and singing for a good long while. Now I'm slowly trying to read stuff that people actually talk about; The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter were some of the first ones I got out of the way.

Recently, all the women in my life have been handing me things to read, so I've been getting through those instead of pursuing my other literary interests, such as books about different religions. The Bible and a devotional book make up my morning reading, and I've been quickly picking up a love of comics (the book collections, though; not individual issues--I'm not ready to become a collector).

And, I'm a sucker for profound, philosophical poetry, regardless of its complexity.

And cereal box labels.

[Ack]

Ah, yeah, I absolutely love Crichton's work. His realistic stuff isn't so bad. Disclosure is different, sure, but I found it better than Airframe. I really enjoyed Rising Sun however. You given that one a read?

And what graphic novels you reading? Fan of Marvel, DC, or some of the more independent works?

[Spoiler Duck]

My university course means I get through about two books and a film a week, leaving precious little time for reading I choose to do of my own volition. Still, I'm enjoying what I have to read. Broadly speaking my recent reading fits into either of the two categories 'creative non-fiction' and 'social science fiction'.

The non-fiction has been the most surprising in how much I've enjoyed it. Authors such as Mailer, Sedaris, Didion and Wolfe have literally opened me up to new reading and writing (it is a creative writing course, so they were as much guidebooks to writing in the genre as pleasurable reads in themselves) that I considered before.

The social science fiction consists of who you'd expect: Orwell, Huxley, Le Guin etc. etc. I can flat out recommend anything by Le Guin, as she remains my favourite science fiction/fantasty author despite the deconstruction I've had to apply to her. I'd never read much Orwell before recently, and I find his books very clever and forward thinking, but disappointingly, not very well written.

Could anyone recommend more social science fiction along the lines of 1984 and Brave New World? Wading through the science fiction genre to find something classifiable as 'good' seems ridiculously hard. Without much knowledge in the subject I don't know where to begin.

[Anayo]

I read mostly science fiction, but I'm always trying to work on reading something, SF or no. I just got done reading a surprisingly mediocre short story collection by Anne McCaffney, and next I'll be reading "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis, which is supposed to be a retelling of a Greek myth. Prior to this I've read a great deal by Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, Michael Crichton, and Orson Scott Card.

[Spoiler Duck]

If you are interested in modern rewrites of Ancient Greek mythology, you should check out Jeanette Winterson's Weight, which adapts the story of Herakles and Atlas. It is one of the few occassions where Winterson's inane demonising of the male gender is applicable and there is nary an inappropriate lesbian relationship in sight. The characterisation of Herakles is simplistic but apt, and the analysis of Atlas is touching. You will, however, find the ending either complete genius or utter wank, depending on your disposition.

[Hatta]

Honestly, I can't imagine reading anything and not learning SOMETHING.

I suppose there's something in most books to be learned, but with fiction it's hidden behind layers of symbolism. I don't see why authors don't forget about the made up shit, and just make their point in clear language. Why should I have to analyze their deep symbolism, if they have something to say, they should just say it. Any novel I've read that actually had a point to make, would have made the point much better in the form of an essay or treatise.

[RCBH928]

I guess part of it is for entertainment and part is because a story sticks to the mind so its easier to remember the lesson, we all know the story of "whatever here" but who remembers essays?

Does any one have a problem like me in reading?
it takes me like an hour to go through 20 pages, is this normal?
that means i need ten days to go through 200 page book(short), that is if i read 1 hour a day, which is a lot for me