to ask you why you read?

[quirrelquarrel]

bit of a weird Q. But I've realised that I read for two reasons: to learn stuff (a lot is non-fiction), or just because it's a habit. I would feel strange without a book on the go, almost guilty! Which is crazy. And I don't think it's necessarily a good thing- means less time to absorb, to really think about what I've been reading, and it probably isn't doing my attention span much good- to always fill time like this. My mum always used to say "put the book down and MEDITATE for once" when I was a kid and I thought, that's for old people, but she has a point. I also have a funny sort of fear that I'm running out of time and I won't have time to learn all the things that I want to learn- which is silly. But every time I read a book, it makes me want/need to read ten more.
My dad reads anything, but mostly it's all historical. My mum doesn't read that much anymore except on her obsessions (we share this trait) but when she was younger it was all philosophy/C17-19th fiction. I read about specific interests and if it's novels, they're by people referenced in the history books I like as colourful characters.....

So why do you read? Do you think it's better to read slowly and take time in between the tomes, or do you always have several on your bedside table? Have you always been a reader, do you think it might be just as "bad" as screens and prolonged use of games consoles are if they get additictive.....so a bit of a two pronged question I guess. I'm interested in hearing people talk about reading tho, it's a nice benign friendly topic, and I know MN is book obsessed

[ArkadyRose]

I read because I enjoy it. That's all that matters.

[InMySpareTime]

I read because I need to know.
Not anything in particular, I just need to know everything about everything, and if I don't get my library/bookshop fix I start reading small print/cereal boxes/subtitles etc.
Luckily I can call reading "work" as I am a storyteller

[PrideOfChanur]

"I have a very bookish friend and I think she is addicted to books. She never seems to be in the moment, always slightly somewhere else, and I think she's in her book. I think really bookish children are the same, never quite in the moment - I do believe it's as bad as any obsessive pastime - whether computer game or board game or stamp-collecting or sport."

Which implies the perfect way to be is to be balanced,not too interested in any one thing,and to "live in the moment"
Not sure if that is true - and even if it is there isn't a lot I can do about it now.I am quite introverted and can only cope with so much "in the moment" before I just switch off! And I am often somewhere else in my head - but that applies whether I am reading or not. (So the being always slightly somewhere else,for me,leads to the reading - not the other way round)

[iismum]

I've always been an obsessive reader. But since getting a smart phone a couple of years ago, my reading has switched more and more towards online stuff (mumsnet is a big part of that, but also Facebook, articles, etc). I sometimes find myself realising I've not picked up a book for a couple of weeks, which would have been inconceivable before my smart phone.

I'm really unhappy with this situation - I think I get far less out of this online reading, and also that it doesn't set a good example to my children. My main New Year's Resolution is to minimise online time and go back to my old book-reading habits (though am currently in bed posting to mumsnet on my phone rather than reading a book ...)

[Skillbo]

interesting comment about non readers having happier lives... am currently having a pretty shit time of it and disappearing into a.book as soon as the dc are in bed is a huge solace for me! i think you can have a very happy life and still read but when you're unhappy, there really is nothing better than checking out for a few hours and forgetting your troubles!

[Skillbo]

is of huge solace - still not mastered reading my posts before sending

[carlywurly]

Bright hair, I was the same. I recently read about hyperlexia and I suspect i may have that. I was around 18 months when I first learned to read, and could apparently also read upside down!?

I remember when we did class reading together and were left to read 10 pages or so of whatever novel we were studying at the time. I'd have read that section dozens of times before the time was up. I could not understand how it took everyone else so long!

I find it a really useful skill these days - I can scan travel timetables instantly and fly through dull work documents.

Reading is the best thing ever, and libraries just amazing. Like a giant, free sweet shop to me

[deleted203]

Festive I, too, find I can't watch television and focus if there are words on the screen - I am busy reading the words. Subtitles drive me mad - and I loathe it if I am in somewhere that has a huge silent TV screen with subtitles as it constantly catches my eye and distracts me. I've sat in pubs, etc before with friends and really struggled with the conversation because there is a TV with subtitles that I find I'm reading. It drives me to insanity at my MIL because she has the news on, complete with subtitles, and I cannot listen because I'm reading the badly written rubbish they have up there that bears little resemblance often to what the person is actually saying.

[deleted203]

Does anyone else hate being read aloud to? I used to loathe it at school when you had to read around the class because I would be reading the book myself (at a much faster rate) and would have finished it many lessons earlier than the class. Listening to other 10 year olds stumbling their way through a paragraph of a book I'd already read was torturous. I still couldn't listen to an 'audio' book, however well read. I'd rather read it myself, rather than listen to Stephen Fry, or whoever else, read it TO me.

[ArkadyRose]

sowornout I hate it. My late ex used to have this thing about reading to me and just couldn't understand that if I was interested in a story I'd far rather just read it by myself. Can't stand audiobooks either - they just turn into a background drone of noise I can't follow them at all. And group reading at school was sheer torture.

[PavlovtheCat]

what you reading for?
so I don't end up a fucking waffle waitress.

Bill Hicks RIP.

[PavlovtheCat]

I have always wanted to write that somewhere.

[deleted203]

Hooray Arkady. I'm not the only one. I don't like DH saying, 'listen to this....' and reading out a bit of his book. Recommend it to me by all means and if I'm interested I'll read it myself - don't keep reading random bits out to me - I can't follow it. I'm like you with the audio bit - I think it depends a lot on what type of 'learner' you are. And I am definitely someone who needs to read information. Kinaesthetic learners (most men!) like to be physically shown something like stripping a car engine down and then do it themselves. I can't follow this at all - but if you gave me the written instructions I could do it. Similarly I'm tone deaf, could never learn an instrument, and therefore find it hard to follow oral instructions or listen to someone reading. I need the words in front of my eyes to understand it.

[VitoCorleone]

I usually tend to just read autobiographys, because im generally a nosy person.

[elleephant]

When I was younger I read fiction avariously and intensly and I think I did so to figure out the adult world iykwim? All those complex emotional situations wholly absorbed for I'd say 15-20y.

Now I read mostly non-fiction, biographies and popular science/history mostly. V random. Also I find I don't really retain what I read now. Still read a lot though. It's more interesting than the telly ;)

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

iismum*, I'm exactly the same - just put down my current book after 10 mins to check 'threads I'm on' and here I am .

Can't decide whether the attention reduced when I had children or whether I've let it dwindle through spending too much time online - it's so easy to flit around without ever truly concentrating on and absorbing what you're reading.

[dinkystinky]

escapism, channeling my imagination, relaxation and information

I love reading and tear through books.

[Bonsoir]

For escapism, I would always much rather watch a DVD than read fiction.

But I love to read to learn.

[PurpleStorm]

Because I love readng.

[ArbitraryUsername]

I read usually very boring non-fiction for work. Sometimes I have to force myself to keep reading because it's so dull. Occassionally, I just can't keep going (some of it has actually put me to sleep). I tend to skim it all though (and read selectively, missing out all the really tedious sections entirely). My PhD thesis was actually about reading (a particular kind of literature).

I steal DS1's books and read them for leisure. I love a good bit of YA literature. I rarely read actual literary fiction (or anything intended for adults) and you could not pay me to wade through anything that could be referred to as 'chick lit'. Literary fiction is usually too much like hard work (I don't think it helps that cloud atlas is the last 'proper book' I tried to read; I made several attempts to keep going but I have admitted defeat and returned to teenagers in some kind of peril, which is what most of the books DS1 reads are about). I just have no interest whatsoever in 'chick lit'.

[brighthair]

I definitely get the "reading without having to read"
I see a page not words and sentences so I can take in the page without moving my eyes. I often get asked "are you really reading that?" and accused of lying. Mainly at school but also by a friends Mum who fell out with my Mum over my reading

[wordfactory]

For pleasure...

I delight in the story, the characters, the craft. Nothing explores what it is to be human more than literature.

[achillea]

I didn't say "live in the moment" - implying impulsive actions - that's completely different from "being in the moment", which is more to do with how someone engages with you. See, you read too fast to read proper.

[mercury7]

I read because I love reading, if I have an especially good book on the go I am delighted, I spend a fair amount of time looking for books that I'll enjoy.

I rarely find fiction that I can really get into, so I mostly read non fiction.

[mercury7]

also I feel that by reading I can access the minds of clever people, people who have in depth knowledge of things I want to know about!

generally I prefer to read books than talk to people