# Book Lovers: When did it start?



## Xyantha Reborn (Jun 29, 2015)

I was an avid reader from a young age (before people roll their eyes at my reading age, I needed remedial math to get into college, and still can't do long division...just how my brain is wired).

I was ready Nancy Drew detective stories at about four to five. When we were six, we moved to a new house and my mother read me the hobbit. About 50 pages into LOTR, she kind of puttered out, so I sat at the kitchen table and read it myself, pausing every few sentences to ask what that word meant.

After that, I quickly moved onto Terry Pratchet, Piers Anthony, Mercedes Lackey, and other similar types. I got into a bit of a loop for some years; breaking into new authors and books just seemed so hard!

Recently, I've been going back and reading the classics; and I have to say some of them may be classics...but I still hate them. I'm struggling to get through the audio book of Moby Dick - I find myself making bicycle motions with my hands, because it is so heavy handed and pedantic. My hubby raises his brows like how can you not like Moby Dick? It is a classic and has life lessons/tropes/etc...and all I can do is sigh because I can't get past the writing style. 

So - where/when did you start reading? What genre/authors...and has your taste changed over time?


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## Archetypus (Jun 30, 2015)

Cool thread. 

I started reading before I started retaining memories, so I'm not too sure what got me started. Some of the earliest books I remember really enjoying were the _Choose Your Own Adventure_ series, maybe when I was around six years old.

One book that really opened my mind to the abstract & creative possibilities of literature was Louis Sachar's _Sideways Stories From Wayside School_. That's the first book that I remember being completely baffled & mystified by, and ever since I have loved really offbeat or original stories. In that same vein, and since you mentioned Piers Anthony, I really loved his _Xanth_ novels. I remember one summer when I was eleven, I had just moved to a completely new neighborhood & was terribly lonely - I spent the entire three months holed away in the local library reading nothing but Piers Anthony & Clive Barker. It definitely had a formative influence on my imagination & thus the way I apprehend reality.

I know what you mean about The Classics. Some of them are worthy of the title, others are questionably so. I read Dante's _Inferno_ in the eighth grade & was able to completely absorb it, to the point where I can still quote whole passages - and yet when I tried to read Faulkner's _The Sound & The Fury_ a few months ago, I was completely confounded & it actually took me several times of stopping & starting over until I was able to pick up the rhythm. But in the end, I think I finally found what it's fans had been saying & ultimately enjoyed it. _Moby Dick_? Hell nah. I didn't even make it twenty pages in before I knew I'd just be wasting my time.

I don't think my tastes have changed - only expanded. I read pretty much anything that piques my interest. Philosophy, History, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Biology, Theology, Metaphysics, True Crime etc etc. You get the idea.


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## Tad (Jun 30, 2015)

Um, I may have written a few too many words on this topic. I get a little excited about books, you see..

I dont remember just when I started reading. I was read to pretty regularly, and I think I just started recognizing words somewhere along the way, because at some point I started realizing that I knew what some signs said, and started reading on my own (not super young, but before they expected us to read in school--4? 5?). 

I lived in a pretty small town back then, but our library had a lot of kids books, which occupied the bottom shelf all the way around the library (I still think that is a great arrangementkids have books at their level, adults tend not to look hard at the bottom shelf anyway), and I remember sitting on the floor there going through stacks of picture books Id pulled out. (incidentally: this was where I stumbled upon The Pumpkin Giant, and realized that there was something utterly fascinating about fat people and being fat)

In grade three I had my Hardy Boys year. Wed moved to a suburb in a city by then, with much less easy access to a library. Id had a couple of those books amongst the odds and ends of other hand-me-down books, and I wanted to read more of them--so the only hint I gave anyone for Christmas that year was Hardy Boys books. I got over two feet worth of them  enough for me to realize how formulaic they were and to burn out on them, but all the same I reveled in the feast of books reading I got to do over the holidays. It was key, in that it was then that I began to have opinions about books, rather than just reading whatever I could get my hands on.

The next year the bookmobile (small library in a bus) started coming to my neighborhood once a week, and I started going to it every week, seeing what they had in the juvenile section that week. I first stumbled on some science fiction that way (there was some series, I think British, that had probably been inspired by War of the Worlds as there earth was conquered by aliens in giant tripod walkers), but my enthusiasm at the time was more focused on histories about explorers and fur traders, and books of mythology and folk tales (I all but memorized Old Peters Russian Tales). 

Then, when visiting my grandparents that Summer (between grades 4 and 5, when I was ten) and looking for something to read I stumbled upon a copy of The Hobbit that an aunt had brought back from University. The only thing I can compare the experience to was hitting puberty and discovering girlseven if I was confused at times and didnt like everything about it, I was utterly enthralled. 

Back home I figured out how to take the bus to the city library so I could get the Lord of the Rings books, and once I was confident about travelling to that library I started discovering more science fiction too, and come the school year I realized that if I looked in the part of the school library aimed at the grade 7s and 8s it had an a really good collection of science fiction (especially anthologies of short stories from the many years when that was the primary form of SF) and I got mostly focused on SF. 

Then at the end of grade five a classmate introduced me to Dungeons & Dragons and I fell in love for the second time, so kept my eyes out for fantasy stuff to support my love of D&D, but stayed mostly focused on science fiction, which opened up so many more ideas and ways of looking at the world (also at this time, in the late seventies, there was far more SF out than fantasy). And of course Id read anything that couldnt run away from me fast enough, so I read my sisters Agatha Christie mysteries, my Dads occasional spy thrillers, etc. During those years I read Asimov and Clarke and Heinlein, Michael Moorcocke's fantasy worlds and interesting takes on Law and Chaos, discovered L. Sprague deCampe, Patricia McKillip, got all moody when reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, read the first of the Xanth books (which I found rather educational on relationship matters, actually!), read some of the first cyperpunk short stories, etc. Oh, and read any fat fiction I could get my hands on (which wasnt much, and usually involved the fat character losing weight, but Id take what I could get).

The last big change in my reading habits was when we moved to France half-way through high-school. For some reason it never occurred to me to see if the town we lived in had a library, so I relied on the mediocre school library and what books I could afford to buy, and even with money in my pocket the selection of fantasy and science fiction at FNAC (for French books) and W.H. Smith (for English) was limited. Which led me to reading the daily International Herald Tribune newspaper that we received at home, and a lot of the magazines that the school library had, including The Economist which was full of fascinating bits of information about countries Id barely heard of. Those two years cementing my enjoyment of reading about current affairs, and taught me to savor good books when I could find them.

At university I was moving every four months due to being in a co-op program, so didnt generally have cards for local libraries, the university library didnt carry the sort of novels I was interested in, and money and time for books for reading for pleasure were limited. This didnt so much change my reading preferences as hone them, as buying a book was a treat that I wanted to make the most of. Fortunately I eventually became less nomadic and got better library access again  But I still savor that brief time period just before letting myself dive into a book, that delicious anticipation.


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## agouderia (Jun 30, 2015)

Xyantha - lovely - and more so logical - idea for a thread on a reader's forum!

I remember exactly when I decided I urgently needed to learn how to read.
The story might sound a bit made up - but as with most crazy real life stories, it's true. My parents had both read to me a lot, but suddenly that seemed insufficient.

It was a few weeks short of my fifth birthday. We were on a large ocean liner crossing the Atlantic and I was in the pool swimming with my mother, as always not wanting to leave the water. So she told me I could stay another 20 minutes, informed the life guard when to kick me out and went back to our cabin.
(This shows you I clearly grew up in the pre-helicopter parent age. No parent today would dream of leaving a not yet 5-year old on their own to swim in a pool they couldn't even stand in. But my mother had utter confidence in my swimming abilities and never for a second considered it potentially dangerous.)

After my 20 minutes extra pool time I went on my way back to our cabin, the path I knew well ..... to be confused at the way end of my walk which short end corridor I had to take to reach our cabin and my mom. They all had names - and that is where I noticed that I couldn't read the signs on my own. 
Needless to say, I turned one corridor too early (out of about 20) couldn't find our cabin and was crying when my father found me. But also determined to learn how to read.

I then actually learned to read 2 languages parallel to each - which I do not remember as much of an issue as I spoke both. (Learning to write both and keeping spelling straight was harder). 

From then on I was the prime suspect for the question 'Who has the library pass?" - reading everything I could get my fingers on. Historic books, books with female lead characters and people in other countries and cultures were my favorites. The Scholastic book services catalog and how many books I was allowed to order was a bi-annual battle with my parents. 

When I was 10 I graduated to the more grown up section of (also longer) books - the first one I ever read being 'Gone with the Wind' as I had seen the movie and loved it. 

My experience mirrors Tad's in so far that public library's in North America are much better in catering to the needs of young(er) readers than those in Europe. Because during my years there, I went to reading through the classics of historical fiction - and for more current material mostly borrowing excessively from my friends' parents bookshelves. 

Xyantha - I can also relate to your classic issues. Like I have total issues with Hemingway. Like I love Ingrid Bergman & Gary Cooper in 'For whom the bell tolls', also because I find the Spanish Civil War a sujet extremely interesting. But I hate the book and the writing style.

And until today, I can't fall asleep if I don't read at least a few pages - my bedtime story to me.


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## jakemcduck (Jun 30, 2015)

For me it started in my early 20s. I was loitering in Walden books and saw a cool cover. It was a paperback from Harry Turtledove. It was a book of alternate history where aliens invaded earth during WWII. I read that series and then followed with another alternate history series by him that started with How Few Remain. Since then I've read A LOT. History (real history, not alternate history), science, science fiction, business, motivational, religion, thrillers, and fantasy. I'm a huge Tolkien fan and reading his work inspires some of mine.

Now my apartment looks like a used book store.


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## dwesterny (Jul 16, 2015)

I think I started with Douglas Adams, that was the first time I got really excited about reading. Also audiobooks, long family road trips we would pick out books on tape from the library to listen to on the way. Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon was a favorite when we took a driving vacations and we listened to it more than once. It's been over 20 years so I only recall bits and pieces of the book. I should reread it one of these days. I spend about 30 hours a week doing work from home after my day job and it is all visual recognition and pattern marking so while I do that I listen to audiobooks. I have like 600 audible audiobooks I own and most of them I've listened to more than once. Favorite repeat listens include Zorba the Greek, Vonnegut, Steinbeck and the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.


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## JimBob (Jul 17, 2015)

I grew up as the child of two avid literature students...it wasn't until university that I actually knew what it was like to live in a space where 30-75% of the wall wasn't crammed with books (and as a comp. lit. major myself, I took steps to correct that).

Xyantha - if you still want to give Moby Dick a go, you can do as I did and try the "Big Read" audio-reading project. Every chapter was read out by a different person - from sea captains to musicians to Benedict Cumberbatch to David Cameron - which I found fitting, since each chapter is kind-of an opinion piece and a unit unto itself, and also because it recalls the spirit of serialised publication.


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## agouderia (Jul 17, 2015)

Is it just me who has a problem with audio books?

I can't stand them - don't have the listening patience at all.

Maybe it's because I read faster than normal reading out loud, but listening to books is lost on me.


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## dwesterny (Jul 17, 2015)

I tend to dislike ensemble audiobook narrations. I prefer a straight read with minimal acting. I really like the William Hootkins recording of Moby Dick, the Frank Mueller version I did not like and could not listen to, which is funny since I loved him on the Dark Tower novels. Moby Dick he just seemed to get pretensions of grandeur. Actors can be the worst narrators sometimes. Ethan Hawke reading Slaughter House Five for example. He tries so hard to soundy raspy and cool I just want to give him a god damn lozenge.


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## dwesterny (Jul 17, 2015)

agouderia said:


> Is it just me who has a problem with audio books?
> 
> I can't stand them - don't have the listening patience at all.
> 
> Maybe it's because I read faster than normal reading out loud, but listening to books is lost on me.



I grew with them so I love them. Also try listening to an author who does his own audiobooks. Neil Gaimen reading his own books is great. I listen to them only when I am doing things that take partial attention so the speed is fine with me.


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## Rojodi (Jul 17, 2015)

I was about 8 or so, and I was introduced to "Encyclopedia Brown." From then on, I would read frequently. As a teenager, I would have a paperback - usually a sci fi tome or a "summer action/adventure" - with me, even reading in between pickup basketball or softball or football games.

Now, the only times I don't have a book with me is when I go shopping.


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## Tad (Jul 17, 2015)

I think if I tried to listen to an entire book read out loud, I'd end up reading something else at the same time  

Actually I haven't ever had a lot of patience with stuff being read to me. My Father figures that is why I learned to read as soon as I did, because I didn't have the patience to have books read to me. For that matter I have a hard time watching hour long TV shows without reading or ironing or something to provide some extra stimulation. 

But I have enjoyed some passages or short stories read aloud, when the reader is good at it. And if I spent a lot of time driving I could imagine giving longer works a shot, but I suspect my attention would wander.


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## dwesterny (Jul 17, 2015)

Like I say an author reading his own work really is something worthwhile. You get to hear the voices they imagined for their characters.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Stardust-The-Gift-Edition-Audiobook/B009P57BG2/ref=a_search_c4_1_20_srTtl?qid=1437155539&sr=1-20


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## Xyantha Reborn (Jul 17, 2015)

Audiobooks are actually how I have been making it through some of the classics, but I think for Moby Dick I need to get the book and speed read it, because I don't enjoy the writing style nor the content very much. At least if I read it like its a text book, I'll make it through!

I use an app called Audiobooks on my iphone. Several readers are my favourite, and I actually listen to books I wouldn't normally because they have a great voice. 

I agree that they are slow. It generally takes me less than 2-3 hours to get through a 300 page book without rushing (more than normal excitement rushes me through). I generally listen to audiobooks while cleaning or cooking. Because I can't do physical tasks without my mind wandering anyway, I can cut and chop and scrub. Doing the physical activity actually overstimulates my listening...so I retain more than if I was still. Especially if/when I am not listening to the _story _but rather the _style_ and _formatting_, audiobooks triggers this sort of reflex where it makes me pause and go huh. I love that phraseology or word choice. Whereas with written text I tend to retain information by the paragraph, so I can easily miss everything except the gist/core information. My brain just truncates and autocorrects the content for faster consumption (MORE BOOKS MORE BOOKS THE FASTER YOU READ THIS THE FASTER YOU CAN REFLECT ON IT AND OMG WE HAVE ANOTHER BOOK TOO! OMFG!).

It is slow going, but imagine having someone read to you in ODFFAs accent. It's actually pretty tolerable LOL.


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## dwesterny (Jul 17, 2015)

Personally I find intricate prose more difficult in audiobook. Probably only because I am always doing something else while listening. It's hard to enjoy Cormac McCarthy in audiobook for me for example. 

Stephen King is a huge fan of audiobooks. This was his take:
"_A suspense novel is more suspenseful — especially in the hands of a good reader — because your eye can’t jump ahead and see what happens next. When I heard Kathy Bates reading The Silence of the Lambs (an abridgment, alas), I was driving at night and had to shut off the CD player, even though I knew how the story went. It was her voice, so low and intimate and somehow knowing. It was flat creeping me out.

There’s this, too: Audio is merciless. It exposes every bad sentence, half-baked metaphor, and lousy word choice. (Listen to a Tom Clancy novel on CD, and you will never, ever read another. You’ll never be able to look at another one without gibbering.) I can’t remember ever reading a piece of work and wondering how it would look up on the silver screen, but I always wonder how it will sound. Because, all apologies to Mr. Bloom, the spoken word is the acid test. They don’t call it storytelling for nothing._"


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## Tad (Jul 17, 2015)

There was a phase where my son liked having more grown-up science-fiction/fantasy novels read aloud to him--I think having it read helped make them safer, and allowed for quick side bar conversations or shared laughs or whatever. I absolutely found out what you said about making you realize the quality of the writing. The good ones are a joy, some others were....less so. I also found it was amazing how it made me realize little/big things about a couple of books I'd previously loved--when you race through reading to yourself it is easier to miss if there are no active female characters in a book, for example.

But for all the benefits of reading aloud or listening to audio books....I still just have a lot of trouble listening to other people read the things!


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## dwesterny (Jul 17, 2015)

If you mean my previous post Stephen King actually said it not me. I should probably italicize the whole quote so it doesn't look like a separate statement.


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## agouderia (Jul 18, 2015)

Not being into audio books does seem to be one of my many antiquated traits; I've been becoming increasingly aware of that.



Tad said:


> I think if I tried to listen to an entire book read out loud, I'd end up reading something else at the same time



Same here - that's my problem.



dwesterny said:


> Like I say an author reading his own work really is something worthwhile. You get to hear the voices they imagined for their characters.



This is something a bit different. As much as audio-books do nothing for me, I really like going to live readings by authors and listening. It's a different situation, a special treat where I do nothing else but concentrate on an author and his writing. And hearing the voice they imagined is indeed fascinating - along with often being able to discuss the text afterwards. 



Xyantha Reborn said:


> Audiobooks are actually how I have been making it through some of the classics, but I think for Moby Dick I need to get the book and speed read it, because I don't enjoy the writing style nor the content very much.
> 
> I generally listen to audiobooks while cleaning or cooking. Because I can't do physical tasks without my mind wandering anyway, I can cut and chop and scrub. Doing the physical activity actually overstimulates my listening...so I retain more than if I was still.



Ironically, I also got Moby Dick as an audiobook last Christmas from a friend because of my love for all things water .... 

The mind wandering while doing household things is my issue too. But I combine it with having music in the background and formulating bits and pieces of my own stories in my mind. And for ironing it's TV or movie watched on the side.



Tad said:


> I also found it was amazing how it made me realize little/big things about a couple of books I'd previously loved--when you race through reading to yourself it is easier to miss if there are no active female characters in a book, for example.



This! Being female myself, I noticed that a lot earlier. That's what put me off genre's like Sci-Fi, Action or Western as well as several individual authors altogether. No or cookie-cutter flat female characters are okay in stories by really inspiring writers who can do fabulous things with language. But in your standard fiction fare - no thanks!


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## bayone (Jul 19, 2015)

dwesterny said:


> Like I say an author reading his own work really is something worthwhile.




As long as it's an author with a good reading voice -- Neil Gaiman's is terrific (if he hadn't been a writer he'd have made a good actor); I've heard other authors who sound like my Grade-8 math teacher, or like a British comic's impression of a vicar delivering a really boring sermon.


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## dwesterny (Jul 19, 2015)

bayone said:


> As long as it's an author with a good reading voice -- Neil Gaiman's is terrific (if he hadn't been a writer he'd have made a good actor); I've heard other authors who sound like my Grade-8 math teacher, or like a British comic's impression of a vicar delivering a really boring sermon.


Neverwhere was his best so far IMO, he narrated 2 American Gods sequel short stories as well. Really hoping he narrates the full sequel novel to American Gods. 

Stephen King narrated a couple of his own books. He was not great at it but I enjoyed them. It shows how much he loves the stories to do that. Must takes days to record one and its not as though he did it for money.


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## dwesterny (Jul 19, 2015)

Xyantha Reborn said:


> Audiobooks are actually how I have been making it through some of the classics, but I think for Moby Dick I need to get the book and speed read it, because I don't enjoy the writing style nor the content very much. At least if I read it like its a text book, I'll make it through!





agouderia said:


> Ironically, I also got Moby Dick as an audiobook last Christmas from a friend because of my love for all things water ....



All this Moby Dick hate. I think you are fat shaming him. Not to mention all the chapters about blubber. As a matter of fact from now on instead of giving my weight I shall refer to my self by how many barrels of oil I could be rendered to.


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## Rojodi (Jul 20, 2015)

Stepped into a small independent book store in Lake Placid NY this morning and there was a children's reading hour! 

Indoctrinating more bibliophiles.


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## Xyantha Reborn (Jul 30, 2015)

It's great to see the hows' and where's and why's of our love of books!

As for reading your own work; could you imagine our authors reading their Dims stories out loud? Part of me just had a little hysterical giggle at it, though really, that reaction isn't reasonable!

I think THAT may be one genre that I find sexier in the written, not spoken word.

Though..there are some that could be hot.


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## Tad (Jul 30, 2015)

errrm, yah, I think I'd rather not hear most of the stories here read out loud. Very much a 'I need to let my imagination do its thing' for me.

Although I'm sure someone would have an awesome voice for it, and make me re-think my position


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## jakemcduck (Aug 1, 2015)

There'd be a lot of red faces in the room. Mine being the reddest.


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## agouderia (Aug 2, 2015)

Xyantha Reborn said:


> It's great to see the hows' and where's and why's of our love of books!
> 
> I think THAT may be one genre that I find sexier in the written, not spoken word.



Spoken erotica is a very special challenge.

The underlying issue though is what keeps me off audio books - hearing (only once) some content spoken isn't the same thing as reading it from those letters in black on white. 

They are the ones that conjure the mental images before my inner eye - the spoken sound passing by my ear isn't able to acheive that to the same extent. Reading also lets me go at my own speed, re-read particularly well phrased (... or very hot ;-) ) paragraphs, a good way to reinforce the pleasure of the writing.


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## lucca23v2 (Aug 15, 2015)

Honestly, I think it was the second or third grade that I knew I was hooked. My teacher handed out chocolate bars and said that she wanted to read a book to us for an hour a day. I thought, hey.. if I got candy just because she wanted to read a book.. fine with me. (happy fat girl) Then came the other shoe.. it was a contest to see how long we could go without eating the candy bar (sad fat girl). The book she choose was Charlie and the chocolate factory. The whole ting had an opposite effect on me. I got so lost in the story I forgot all about the candy bar. (until I moved and banged my knee into the desk and saw the bar and ate it before the end of the story.) But, that was it. After that contest/story time, I was hooked!

To be honest I think it started before that. I always loved vocabulary and spelling bees when I was younger. Still to this day I love doing crossword puzzles. It is a great way of learning words and their synonyms and antonyms, and the different meanings one word can have.


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## Amaranthine (Aug 18, 2015)

I agree with Agouderia about audiobooks. I enjoy reading because it commands my full attention; if I'm not paying attention, I just stop progressing until I get back on track. I have the experience of visualizing the entire thing for myself without any outside influence. When it comes to listening to words, I'm truly terrible at it. I really have to work to pay attention when someone is speaking (it's not out of lack of interest or respect for them) and I rarely comprehend lyrics in songs. If I were to listen to an audiobook, I would zone out daydreaming 2 minutes in. 

I remember being very into reading from kindergarten to maybe 3rd grade. For a long period after that, I just couldn't be bothered. I'm not sure why. I eventually picked it back up with excessive enthusiasm and almost wished I had been able to fit a lit major into college. Once you start reading philosophy regularly, pretty much any fictional literature becomes relaxing. 

I'm also really gaining an appreciation for books that are impossible to translate into audiobooks. Ergodic literature - stories that engage you in multiple ways. For example, House of Leaves and S. (Ship of Theseus.) The stories themselves are very good, but the extra elements incorporated (such as having to physically turn the book around, read a conversation of ongoing notes between two people, or interpret the meaning of different colors used for the text) makes it an experience . It even applies to Infinite Jest with its outrageous end-notes. It's my favorite book that I've never even finished.

Plus, even when it's straight prose, it's enjoyable to find books to enjoy in different ways. Like, I enjoy Nabokov for his beautiful writing. His risqué topics don't hurt either. Then there's writers like Dick or Vonnegut who have a very simplistic, to-the-point writing style...but the ideas expressed feel very meaningful, profound, or downright addling. Tevis (who also does a little sci-fi...but not exclusively) is excellent at making a very character driven story; it's fun to see how that type of sci-fi contrasts with a more straightforward idea-oriented sci-fi, like Dick's. It's amazing how so many different aspects go into creating how we experience a story. As someone who thrives on novelty, reading fulfills that more thoroughly than any other medium of entertainment.


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## Xyantha Reborn (Aug 18, 2015)

Not to mention that for me, holding that physical book a few inches from my nose without my contacts in seems to fulfil the same need as smokers have to have something going hand to mouth!! Its part of the whole thing, and sometimes teading the ebook is like a patch - it gets you enough to just get you by!

Ps i am not a smoker these is just from what i have heard


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## dwesterny (Aug 18, 2015)

I only read scrolls. I just can't enjoy it without unwinding one end and winding the other.[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ[/ame]


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## Xyantha Reborn (Aug 18, 2015)

It hurts because its TRUE! Love it.

Although scrolls are also my favourite way of transmitting the written word, they do not lend themselves to the Dims types of stories and what they are generally used for...as they, ah, require two hands and all.


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