Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Looking at photos from 20 years ago, I realize how much reading I used to do. There were stacks of magazines by my chair, and I actually read almost all of them. Even the association magazines. I also read newsletters, including the ones sent by the utility company. I always had a stack of books by my bed, and had 2-3 going at any given time.
Now I read one book at a time. Sometimes I go for weeks at a time without reading a book. I only read magazines if I'm in a waiting room. I rarely glance at the newsletters I get in the mail, and throw away the ones from utility companies or other businesses without a second thought.
I do read blogs quite a bit, but not as much as I did 5-6 years ago. The books I read are lighter material. I like mysteries and humor; I once tried to devote time to reading "the classics" but stopped doing that a while ago.
These days the nonfiction I read is mostly about investments, medical topics, and "fun" topics, which is a change from what I read when I was trying to keep up with an ever-changing career.
I still like the "feel" of reading a printed book, but even so I read my Kindle more an more, and haven't bought a printed book in quite some time. I feel bad about that because I like bookstores, so I think I'll make a point of buying one today. But it's kind of sad when you're buying a book out of principle and not because you really want it.
I read more, especially in winter. Love sitting outside in the cold and snow reading a book. I have thousands of books on my Kindle and iPad but like the feel of a real book.
Some of the time I used to spend reading is now computer time, and my eyes can no longer handle reading for long stretches at a time like I used to do, but I still read every day, and I typically still have 2-4 books going at once. They just take longer to finish than they used to do.
yes, but (1) due to the eyes deteriorating as I have aged. It is just hard to focus for more than a page and then it is uncomfortable. I used to read ebooks and it was good to increase the font but even that is pretty much done.
And (2) it takes me longer to do household (mostly yard and house maintenance) tasks so I find my usable day filled with fixing repairing or maintaining or hiring it out. Not reading.
I love to read and still have my favorite authors.
another factor is the (3) social factor. During my free time I try to get out of the house and be friendly with people. Not like the working days where I was out and about all the time.
Looking at photos from 20 years ago, I realize how much reading I used to do. There were stacks of magazines by my chair, and I actually read almost all of them. Even the association magazines. I also read newsletters, including the ones sent by the utility company. I always had a stack of books by my bed, and had 2-3 going at any given time.
Now I read one book at a time. Sometimes I go for weeks at a time without reading a book. I only read magazines if I'm in a waiting room. I rarely glance at the newsletters I get in the mail, and throw away the ones from utility companies or other businesses without a second thought.
I do read blogs quite a bit, but not as much as I did 5-6 years ago. The books I read are lighter material. I like mysteries and humor; I once tried to devote time to reading "the classics" but stopped doing that a while ago.
These days the nonfiction I read is mostly about investments, medical topics, and "fun" topics, which is a change from what I read when I was trying to keep up with an ever-changing career.
I still like the "feel" of reading a printed book, but even so I read my Kindle more an more, and haven't bought a printed book in quite some time. I feel bad about that because I like bookstores, so I think I'll make a point of buying one today. But it's kind of sad when you're buying a book out of principle and not because you really want it.
It makes me think
How have your reading habits changed?
yes - almost exactly as yours!
I just joined a book club, have the book, but have I read it - nope.
As for classics, loved them growing up. And I get angry when I read on facebook about our school lit teachers assigning things like the Vampire Diaries as reading material. What the heck happened to Ulysses or Antigone? If we had to suffer through that - why not now? But then most of these teachers didn't get their certifications in the traditional way - have a degree and you can teach. But that is another subject.
My last decade at work was very busy and stressed. I had no time for books, did read daily Washington Post and magazines (New Yorker, Time, Newsweek when still in paper format).
I learned to read at a very young age and was way, way ahead in my reading levels throughout school. Reading has been one of my greatest pleasures throughout most of my life. I cannot even begin to imagine who or what I would have been without all the reading. I used to toss all those books around in my head - and conversation - as if I were making a salad.
But I am eighty now, and I and the world have changed a great deal.
I rarely read magazines, except for the two put out by societies I belong to, the Irish Georgian Society and Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland...I scan an English language magazine for foreigners living in this country.
I had a Kobo electronic reader, and I found it slower and more inconvenient to use than a paper book. I do a lot of checking in margins and highlighting, and I am far faster than these devices. Smart phone, tablets, etc., etc.....forget it. I still buy books on a regular basis.
And I carry a book like some of the NRA dudes carry guns and ammo, never leave home without it. I have tons of books, many are reference....probably most at this point. I read a good deal less fiction that I used to, and when I do it is fiction that I missed along the way over the years. For an example, I just read Look Homeward Angel about a little over a year ago. (I know it was an accident, but I am happy that I read it when I was old.) And I am rereading fiction I liked in the past.
But most of my reading is non-fiction....travel, religion, social commentary, history, language. I read on my lunch hour every day. The computer is a distraction at home, and that is the reason that I take "vacations" from C-D Forums regularly. I usually have one book that I am concentrating on, but am also reading one or two others at the same time.
Right now I am winding up Dervla Murphy's The Island That Dared: Journeys in Cuba (3 trips to Cuba and some commentary about Fidelismo); The Cape and Other Stories from the Japanese Ghetto (modern Japanese fiction); Given Light by Irish poet and writer Michael Coady and Things That Bother Me by Galen Strawson. I would like to be able to personally know Murphy, Coady and Strawson, and this is the case with a number of the non-fiction authors that I read now. I read more to ruminate along with an author rather than to learn specific things. Having reached this hoary age I have come to feel that looking for "bottom lines" is akin to deciding to commit hari kiri with a nail file.
Looking at photos from 20 years ago, I realize how much reading I used to do. There were stacks of magazines by my chair, and I actually read almost all of them. Even the association magazines. I also read newsletters, including the ones sent by the utility company. I always had a stack of books by my bed, and had 2-3 going at any given time.
Now I read one book at a time. Sometimes I go for weeks at a time without reading a book. I only read magazines if I'm in a waiting room. I rarely glance at the newsletters I get in the mail, and throw away the ones from utility companies or other businesses without a second thought.
I do read blogs quite a bit, but not as much as I did 5-6 years ago. The books I read are lighter material. I like mysteries and humor; I once tried to devote time to reading "the classics" but stopped doing that a while ago.
These days the nonfiction I read is mostly about investments, medical topics, and "fun" topics, which is a change from what I read when I was trying to keep up with an ever-changing career.
I still like the "feel" of reading a printed book, but even so I read my Kindle more an more, and haven't bought a printed book in quite some time. I feel bad about that because I like bookstores, so I think I'll make a point of buying one today. But it's kind of sad when you're buying a book out of principle and not because you really want it.
It makes me think
How have your reading habits changed?
In the two years I’ve been retired I’ve noticed I have read less than I used to. When I moved I gave away a fairly large library of books I had collected,mainly because I didn’t want to pay the movers to move them. Besides, I had started reading more and more electronic books then.
Now however, I’m starting to read a lot more and I still love to hold a regular book in my hands. I find retirement terribly boring so books provide some much needed mental stimulation.
I just realized the other day that I don't think I've read a book in a few years! No, wait, I did read a book about Alzheimers few months ago. It was called "Still Alice." I tried a kindle but didn't like flicking through the "pages" so fast--I had to make the font so big that it only took a fraction of a second to read a page, lol.
I used to love non fiction. Then, in retirement, I finally got started on fiction best sellers from Good Reads. But that ended somehow. sigh. It's just too much trouble to go to Good Reads and figure out which books to get from the library. Thanks for the reminder because I really do want to get back to losing myself in a good book.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You best be careful if you wear glasses!
