To not understand why some people don't read books and don't have any in the house?

[Kasterborous]

I can understand that people don't read books due to not having any time, or not being able to very easily. But how come other people don't? There are so many different books to read. I don't read anything literary or too heavy going, but I love reading. I even go to bed early when DH is on nights to read. I always remember looking round a house when we were looking to buy one, and this house didn't have a single book in it.

I'm not being a judge or having a go at anyone who chooses not to read, just curious. they probably have interesting hobbies and better things to do with their time.

I guess that, for some people, reading = work.

I remember being a bit stunned when a girl at school (we were in the Sixth form doing A levels) said that she had never read a book that wasn't for school. She was a highly intelligent girl who was planning to go to university and go into teaching.

It seemed very strange to me. I get a lot of pleasure from reading but not everyone does. Horses for courses really.

I mean, I think Call of Duty, or whatever it's called, is beyond tedious but my two eldest sons love it.

But WHY can't you understand it op? It shows a distinct lack of imagination and fundamental misunderstanding that other people are not the same of you, which is surprising in someone who is supposedly intelligent and well-read.

My dad had a house full of books. Every room had bookcase, there was a stack next to his bed. He had read maybe four of them, if that. He was full of how important they were and how they made a house a home but it was purely his way of projecting an image of himself. Lots of books doesn't mean lots of reading. I have maybe 200 books, they are in my bedroom where only special people nobody goes and I only have them due to hoarding tendencies as I mostly read on my kindle. I don't think I would ever kindleise my poetry books or anything where I read and re-read the same passages over and over because I love the language though. I also love writing which is fairly closely related to reading so I am not doing nothing when I am not reading, I am writing. I think the worst thing about kindles is we have lost the ability to judge whether someone is 'our type' by the book that they have read but at least we don't have to have millions of the bastard things cluttering the place up.

Roffle Mrsdv. I would chink a glass with you but I don't have any tonight .

I guess some people like doing other things better. But I would think it odd for a house not to have one single book (or a kindle) in it.

However, I suppose that they may have all their books hidden away in non-public rooms.

Most of ours are visible to visitors - not due to any obsession with publicly displaying books, but due to lack of space in the private areas of our house.

Lol at mintyy

My Dad collects rare antiquarian books, I scribbled on one of these when I was about 7. Thirty years later when I go home for visits he anxiously tells me not to scribble on his books. He's only half joking.

why feel sad for children do people really feel awfully upset that children have no books , Mine did but tbh i used the Library when mine were little, and dd1 started buying them herself, but to be oh so sad for children is just

people like different things

But going to the library is 'having' books though. I worked with kids who had no books at home and terrible literacy skills, children who aren't encouraged to be around books and to read are at a huge disadvantage to those who do.

Linky.

*those who are.

Great advertisement for reading I am.

Mintyy I never said I was intelligent or well read, I like reading but that doesn't mean I'm well read and I wouldn't say I was particularly intelligent either.

I can't bear to be without something to read and have read all sorts of things I probably wouldn't have chosen to when limited for options(generally whilst in someone else's house/abroad where there was nothing else). I once read 'Spaniels for Sport' at an elderly uncles and similarly read 'Kenny Dalglish's Autobiography' whilst at DHs house one weekend when we were courting.

Neither of which I would have bought - but I quite enjoyed them. (I am a complete insomniac and frequently read through the middle of the night).

Kasterborous you sound perfectly intelligent to me!

I have a kindle with 1000s of books on.
The few actual books Iv kept are behind cupboard doors, and all childrens are in a books cupboard, simply because I hate dusting them and think they look messy

There was a study (was it in Freakonomics?) that children who have books around them in their homes (even if the parents don't read to them) will be more literate etc than those without.

As I've already said, we have a shed load of books in our house but they are not in the main rooms where our visitors go. Although DCs' books are flipping everywhere.

Completely agree CrapswithBears, library books are the same as having books. It's hugely important that children are encouraged to read, not just to improve their literacy levels but to encourage their imaginations.

Saturday morning at the library was one of my highlights of the week growing up.

My DD is four months and she has a ton of books already, but only because I'm loving being able to re-read all the books I loved as a child.

Having to read academic books, to keep my training up to date, has destroyed me wanting to read for fun, i used to read horror and "nonsense books", such as Terry Pratchett. They were entertaining, but had no educational value, i can get the same entertainment from other media sources.

Mark Twain quote might have had a point before the internet came along (which is still reading) and the good documentaries that we now have (if your work doesn't require you to read).

I no longer care about fiction, i deal with all of the RL problems that people can experience, walking my dog and generally being outdoors is a much better way to de-stress.

I have notes made from books, but only have books whilst i am reading them, except for a few by the Dali Lama.

There is way to much snobbery about reading, when it comes to adults.

Not being able to read is sad, not choosing to read as a hobby is a choice. I like to read, always have done. My parents don't read for pleasure at all - they have different hobbies. They love to garden - I think of nothing else I'd like to do less. My sister doesn't enjoy reading books - she bakes - for fun . Again baking makes me want to weep and not good tears.

Reading as a past time is a hobby, I really don't get the angstyness of it all. Again it's one of those MN things that really doesn't reflect how people in real life think.

I have gone from a house that housed between 400 - 600 books, we had a huge clear out and ditched 200 before moving - to a house where we have ONE bookshelf and a kindle. Much prefer it as it is now, nothing to dust!

We read and it goes straight to the charity shop when we have finished.

Ds on the other hand has a big floor to ceiling book case in his room.

I Getcha.
But some people like to keep a copy of every film they ever enjoyed, some keep back copies of hello or vogue.

For me I keep the really important books as a signpost of my culture. A way back into thoughts I once had, for my children hopefully to come across one day and smile.

See someone somewhere will be thinking the same way about a Bruce Willis trilogy they've got on blu ray.