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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not understand people who never read...

162 replies

upsylazy · 19/05/2011 16:22

Books, I mean - not Heat or Closer. I know it's none of my business and I know they're not doing anyone any harm by not reading books but, to a bookworm like me, I find it as baffling as someone saying that they don't like music. I suppose it's people like Victoria Beckham who positively boast that they've never read a book who particularly annoy me. Go easy on me, I've got a headache.

OP posts:
onlion · 19/05/2011 17:30

I dont enjoy reading. I rarely find a book I am captivated by.

BatFlattery · 19/05/2011 17:32

I am a complete book worm and have been known to read household appliance manuals if no books are available.

But YADBU and a bit judgemental.

DH only ever reads car magazines and even that is a rarity. He gets no pleasure from reading, although he is perfectly capable, because he can't imagine the storyline in his head. There is no 'escape' in reading for him, only ploughing through the words on the page.

The world would be a rather boring place if we were all the same.

onlion · 19/05/2011 17:32

Sorry , I mean novels. I read all day i work.

turboorange · 19/05/2011 17:34

I love to read, I enjoy it more than TV but I get a bit upset when good books end. I'd agree even though I mostly read fiction my general knowledge is much broader than it would be if I only read gossip mags. It is a bit unreasonable to expect everyone to read, but it is their loss IMO.

HandMini · 19/05/2011 17:34

I am a read-a-holic, expecting first baby in a week....reassure me that after the initial learning curve I will be able to breastfeed while reading!?

bibbitybobbityhat · 19/05/2011 17:36

But why can't you understand it? Are you a very unimaginative person? What is there that is so holy about reading that sets it apart from any other hobby or interest that a person might have?

whitechocolatebuttons · 19/05/2011 17:37

oh- oh I NEED to read! - yep the back of the shampoo bottle while i'm in the shower. My lovely partner bought me a kindle for xmas and i've been downloading all the free stuff they've got, rereading the classics and even trawling through the really bad stuff they have to give away - anything's better than nothing.
The people who don't read........what DO they do????

NettoSuperstar · 19/05/2011 17:37

Taliope
I really must get them.
It's the Circus, River and one other I'm missing, the Sea I think.

I loved when Mrs Mannering and Bill Smugs got together, but now, reading as an adult, I laugh at them sleeping in separate rooms, and just being friends.
Yeah right, like they weren't shagging like bunnies every time the kids were out on an adventureGrin

OryxCrake · 19/05/2011 17:38

Books, Kindle, cereal boxes - I always have to be reading something. DP hardly reads at all, but he loves watching films and TV. Each to their own, I suppose.

One of my favourite memories from a holiday was when the DC (then 9 and 5) and I were all sprawled in a row on our sun loungers immersed in our books.

The cloche on The Apprentice was a bell-shaped metal plate cover! I wouldn't have known that either...

valiumbandwitch · 19/05/2011 17:40

Exactly bibbitybobbity. I want to press like on your post. I used to work with a ski bore who was baffled that I could think I was alive when I hadn't skiied.

onlion · 19/05/2011 17:41

I look at some of the books people read and wonder how they can possibly read that stuff....so maybe we are equal.

NettoSuperstar · 19/05/2011 17:41

I thought the Cloche was a hat too, from reading my Mother's Lyn Andrew's (Catherine Cookson but set in LiverpoolBlush) books, but it wasn't.

ThisisaSignofthetimes · 19/05/2011 17:41

Reading is a hobby, some people just don't like it. My OH will read car magazines and a Jeremy Clarkson on holiday, that's it. He doesn't see the point in fiction. You could take any hobby and ask "I don't understand people who never...."

takethisonehereforastart · 19/05/2011 18:27

I just ordered a mug that has "She is too fond of books and it has turned her brain" printed on it.

I think it's a Louisa May Allcott quote but my mother says a similar thing about me. She is a reader too but we have different tastes and she thinks my fondness for horror and thriller types are the reason I have frequent nightmares (not true).

DH doesn't read. I need to read something every day and get a bit on edge if I finish a book without the next one on hand to start. We don't entirely understand each other for this but at least we aren't fighting over the same book.

JoniRules · 19/05/2011 18:36

OP I'm with you. YANBU...books have always been in my life and I just love reading. I always have done ever since I was little, I'd always be reading under the covers late into the night. I can remember some books from when I was young like 'The Little White Horse', (is that the name), that resonated so much and created such imaginary worlds that I can still remember it today. Books have been a companion and an escape in the bad times. NO surprise I did my degree in literature! I always have to have a book on the go. I love fiction and non fiction and I love it when I come across a book that is so good that I can't wait to go to bed and read it before I sleep. Like finding a gem. Always have to read before bed. I'm not too snobby either as I love Jodi Picoult and read them as soon as they come out, and like fiction-lite like 'One Day'...

LauraSmurf · 19/05/2011 18:55

I know! I totally don't get it! People make sooo many excuses, but being a primary school teacher with a severely dyslexic husband I have heard them all and seen all of them overcome if people can be bothered.

I am currently 12 weeks pregnant and we are sadly having to disband our library (a whole 3 sides of the the room with floor to ceiling books double stacked!!) for the nursery! Still won't get rid of the books. I love love love reading!!

I am so blessed this year as i have a whole class of avid readers. We have 30 mins reading time 3 times a week (year 5/6) and they LOVE it, the other year 5/6 classes dread it. I often bring in books of my own for them to read (most are now a bit trashed) but it is worth it because they come in first thing in the morning so excited to discuss what has jsut happened! Reading is amazing and we should never stop trying!

(climbs off soap-box, sorry for rant!!)

TrillianAstra · 19/05/2011 18:57

I first learned Port and Starboard from the Narnia books.

DontCallMePeanut · 19/05/2011 19:08

YANBU! You can find so much out from reading as it is...

I can't iimagine never having read half the books I've read... No Philip Pullman... No Jodi Picoult

sofaqueenie · 19/05/2011 19:13

I don't have the time to read TBH.

The only time I ever do/did, was on holiday before DS came along. I tend to love reading about things that have happened, particulary about Everest expeditions.

bupcakesandcunting · 19/05/2011 19:15

I used to devour books (pre kiddlywinks) but don't have so much time now :( I lament that I don't read as much but the intention is there; I have serveral books ordered from Amazon waiting to be read. I read two books last year, it's pitiful. :(

YANBU though. I do judge people with no books in their house like my mother

WowOoo · 19/05/2011 19:17

I judge people on their bookshelves or lack of am afraid.

Doesn't mean I don't like them, just that i can't understand it. I need, novels reference books, atlases, more novels.

Don't have enough time to get through enough these days.

Bennifer · 19/05/2011 19:27

Some have arged that reading is just like any other hobby, and therefore one would be just as unreasonable if they said they didn't get why people didn't rockclimb or repair motorbikes.

Well, I profoundly disagree. Reading is not just another hobby like any other. It's objectively better than many others. You're engaging with the ideas of people long dead, grappling with some of the best thoughts that have ever been thought, using your mind to create a world and a host of characters.

It's incredibly postmodern to say these things don't matter, and there are no standards. Well, they're wrong, and we should tell them so

DontCallMePeanut · 19/05/2011 19:31

I was shocked to find out that the ONLY books DB has read since school are to his DSD... I told him the local paper doesn't count

LetThereBeRock · 19/05/2011 19:34

I could easily,and happily imagine,no Jodi Picoult,or at least her books.Grin

LetThereBeRock · 19/05/2011 19:36

I really can't type today,perhaps that's because I haven't so much as glanced at a book all day.Grin