Quote:
Originally posted by Evil Chris
When I do have the time and inclination to read, I like to read non-fiction political essays... I know it sounds boring, but I like Canadian and American political history. 
|
Not boring at all! It's really too bad more people aren't interested in law and politics (especially now, with all the shit going down in the US). Knowledge is power, baby!
My not-so-guilty pleasure is historical romances. I've probably read tens of thousands in the past 30 years. In a pinch, I'll read ANYTHING I can find.
In every room of my house, literally, you'll find at least one book, magazine or newspaper (usually a small pile of them); I've even got reading material in my car. The downside is that they take up a lot of room, so I have to periodically throw or give stuff away. It's really difficult for me to give away books, but I force myself to only keep the ones that I simply loved, or want to hang onto so that my daughter can read them in a couple years (the romances, especially!). I always have a box that I put the non-keeper romances into, and when it's full, I ship it to one of my mom's friends, who's addicted to them too.
My beef with audio books applies primarily to people who use them as a substitute for actual reading. Case in point: my husband. He works with his hands, at a bench pretty much all day long. His company keeps a library of audio books, so he listens to the CDs while he's working. Every now & then in group conversation, he'll talk about how good a certain book was, or say how he's "read" x number of books over the past month. Now, I live with this man, so I happen to know that the books he's had in his hands are limited to comic books (oh, excuse me,
graphic novels), toy industry magazines (that's what he does for a living, works for a company that makes toys) and a Dark Age of Camelot game manual.
So I protest, saying that audio books don't count as reading, since listening to someone else read isn't nearly as useful or educational as turning the pages and having your brain process what your eyes see. For example hearing the word, "rapport" will not teach you how to spell it (which is how I illustrated my point, by asking him to spell the word). Maybe I'm just old-fashioned or something, but I think it's really important for people to be able to express themselves clearly in writing, and without a substantial foundation that can only be gained in reading a variety of text, it's impossible reach the level of literacy required.
I also find the younger generation's extensive use of bastardized shorthand ("r u going to break up with ur bf?") annoying and almost a sacrilege. When you can use "ur" in place of "your" and "you're," why bother learning which word is appropriate in any given context? But that's another rant altogether.
