Does anyone read books anymore ? or listen to talking books?
I have always been an avid reader wether technical, stories, novels , thrillers etc.
At the moment I am revisiting the Lee Childs Reacher books although now talking books being somewhat optically challenged.
Elcarajillo I go through binges, where I read non stop for say 6 months, then do not pick up a book for ages having switched to something else to amuse me. I have read the Reacher series 3 times. I do not think the last 3 or 4 books written by his brother in law on Childs behalf are up to standard. Another really good read is the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo. I have not tried audio books as I think I would just go to sleep!
I do read a lot - both professional books and novels. I finished reading the below last week.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/piranesi/susanna-clarke/9781526622433
My addiction is podcasts to an extent of binge hearing. The real dictators, The assassination and The Lazarus Heist are some examples of binge hearing. I’m listening to The real dictators at the moment.
I used to chew through books at a great rate, but don’t read so much any more. Time and glasses work against me. I hate glasses and want to rip then off my face in minutes
In bright daylight I can read no problem without glasses, but I’m usually doing other stuff.
The man problem though, the Kindle, I just can’t reach maximum reading speed on it and the reading doesn’t flow. This means I don’t get into the “zone”, where I am not conciously reading but watching a very high speed film 4x realtime or faster in perfect definition and sounding completely normal. It’s why I liked books so much as a kid…full colour ultra def, hi speed movies…with sound. I used to read about 20 books a week. Usually I would read a book in one sitting. I started reading around 1.5 years old, I picked it up whilst watching my mum learn to read English. By 5 years old I was into adult books…Asimov, Heinlein etc… I had an uncle who worked in a boys private school (11-18) and he used to bring me the books they didn’t want. He would visit every 2 weeks with a big box of books….I really looked forward to those visits which started when I was 3 and went on for 7 years, then suddenly he stopped visiting, we think he must have died..
On and off. I’d love more time to read. Making more of an effort at the moment and trying out non-fiction for a change.
Fiction side, my more recent favourites are the Department Q Series by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I’ve also read all the Jo Nesbo Harry Hole series as well as others by Camilla Lackberg, Steig Larsson and the like. I read some form of scandi crime fiction almost exclusively for 5 years.
At the moment I reading The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes and have The Secret World of Weather by Tristan Gooley and The New Science of Alcohol and You Health by Prof David Nutt.
dfk41 That is one problem with talking books, I quite often have to go back to see what I remember hearing last😊
Thanks to Kindle I now read far more than I used to. I have the font fairly large, which gets around the anno domini eye issues and read quickly. These days I read at least two books a week. Almost all police procedurals but also Pratchett, Rankin and some humour.
I average a book a month. A fairly eclectic mix, anything from Sun Tzu’s Art of War to Douglas Adams to Dan Brown.
Alway loved to read but since getting my Kindle 11 years ago I read virtually every day mostly last thing at night. Just finished Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes trilogy and now I’m reading Desperation.
After reading many other authors of the same genre as King, I’m afraid very few if any come close. I loved 11.22.63 about a guy trrying to stop the Kennedy Assassination and Under The Dome.
There are a lot of King wannabes out there, some are good but not many if any come close.
Never been much of a reader but recently have been reading Peter James crime series. About 5 years ago we Saw a play based on one of his books in Bromley, Not dead enough. Many years ago I enjoyed the Sven Hassle books. At the moment I am reading Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson.
I read but not as much as I used to and not just because Iain Banks died.
He was and still is my favourite author in both his lit and sci-fi formats.
I read trash like the Janet Evanovich novels, fun stuff like Carl Hiaasen, Andrew Vachss for serious nastiness.
I have recently revisited Heinlein and Michener with mixed results.
My tea drinking partner is a librarian and addicted book reader.
Fortunately she has fed my literary desires for decades.
Elcarajillo Really love this authors work, not optically challenged, but my attention span has changed since cancer treatment some years ago and it takes a lot to keep me engaged.
Never even contemplated talking books it may be worth checking out, thanks
DavecUK Wow, and I thought my book a day was ok…..
Used to be pretty a voracious reader, once back in the days before cellphones, in the services was stuck on a new camp with literally nothing to do and no company. So I worked through the Yellow Pages for that city, lol….ya do what you gotta do.
I’ve read just about anything but I draw the line at women’s magazines.
CafeNoir I finished pretty much everything worth reading in the local library, then I discovered charity shops, and jumble sales as a source of super cheap books. I used to take a box to the charity shops, books at that time were 5p. But if you filled a box 30 or so books, they would just charge you £1, being young helped. At jumble sales books were almost free!
Back in the day, my parents used to stop me reading and make me go out. In fact they tried to limit my reading time. Thus began the toilet marathon reading sessions and the banging on the door…..Plus the late night raids when I was meant to be asleep. 🤣
we have a very good library bus that comes to the village once a month and you can take up to 30 books!!, that is some serious reading if you can get through that lot, it’s a great service and if you fancy any book they will get it for you so I am well impressed with Lincolnshire Library Service, also the Kindle is a vary handy thing, I usually go through one book a week or sometimes maybe two books week
gordy53 when I were a lad, you were only allowed 3 books from the library. I had to get my mum and dad to join, so I could get 9 books at once. It meant I only had to go 2 or 3 times a week. I even had to get my dad to go into the library because they were preventing me getting books from the adult section and forcing me to the kids section. He had quite an argument with them bless him.
At primary school when I was 7 to 8 years old I was regularly sent out of the class for insubordination. This was because the reading material we were given was so basic that I could read the little books they gave us in a few minutes. I was told to read more by the teacher until there were none left to read and then I would just sit there with nothing in front of me. This invariably resulted in me being sent to stand outside the classroom for the rest of the lesson. I asked if I could bring my own books in, and the teacher agreed. The next day I bought in my books to read and the teacher immediately took them from me and said I couldn’t possibly be reading those books, then sent me to stand outside the classroom again. At the time it was lord of the rings. By this time I was having a pretty s*** time of it at school, especially in the English classes.
This finally changed at about 8 years old when the headmaster said he’d seen me outside the classroom on a number of occasions and called me into his office to explain why, I explain the situation and he just let me go. About a week later I was called to his office again and he had this guy from some government ministry to administer a reading test to me both reading, comprehension and vocabulary. We finished up pretty quickly because it didn’t take long and the guys materials only went up to the age of a 21-year old at which they considered you of an adult reading standard. After this I was allowed to take any of my books I wanted into school and I was no longer sent out of the English class. It did result in other tests being done over the next month, but sadly I was not unusually gifted in anything else except my ability to read and read quickly.
CafeNoir Try your local library, they usually have a good selection (talking books)
There are quite a few places that do talking books, look for a list on I/net.
I use the RNIB reading services, they have a good selection.
