nonexistentreads

[metasynthie]

I finally started to feel guilty about all the friend requests that have been piling up on Good Reads, so I signed on and approved all of you that have been trying to friend me. Then I realized that I hadn't put a single book on my list on that site, ever, as far as I can recall. I also hadn't looked at what anyone else was reading, since I have my

Comments

[locallibrarian]

Some people read books and other people don't read books, and that seems to me to just be a simple difference, not a good/bad kind of thing. Me? Totally saved by books, many times over. Other people are saved by religion or shopping or romantic love or food or political activism or whatever. For me? It's books. And that's been true about me practically forever and I suspect I'll be part of the reason books never go totally out of style.

And also, I think book-reading-status-stuff totally depends on the kind of book people are reading. Romances, airport mysteries, identity fiction (african-american fiction, gay fiction), I don't think anybody gets special status points for reading those books, but they're clearly more popular than Faulkner.

[heinousbitca]

people who won't shut the hell up about how they read books and behave like sanctimonious prats piss me off and create that illusion that reading is something that connotes status. the thing is this can be said about a lot of media (punk rock?) and sometimes we just notice the most blatant examples thereof.

i've never really thought of what i read granting me status, but i do spend 45 minutes on the bus each way going to work and i certainly like to read then. pah on status, fer chrissake i ride the bus and (certain) people already look at me like i have four heads for that. i think much more about status when the local coffeeshop has become "i have a better computer than you" one-upsmanship than i do about what i see people reading.

(for the record, my computer sucks, but i have kickass stickers. win!)

[ariellabella]

i really love books. i was a reader growing up and i just love having something i can hold in my hands and take with me. i read on the subway and i read in the bathroom and i read a TON when i am travelling around. i don't read at home much only because i am usually getting other things done/playing rock band/whatever else i do but reading is totally a pleasure of mine.

i think part of what i like about books is that they can hold a longer story. i think in all of the years i have been on computers i have read something of novel length maybe five times total without printing it out. i read a lot of shorter articles online, but for anything of real length i would prefer to go onto paper. i can't imagine the novel dying out immediately, but i wonder sometimes. i am really curious about how things like the kindle will change that.

i have to second that book reading is only statusy in certain crowds and certain books. i am interested to know more what you think about that.

[cixous]

I love to read, but I hardly have the time when I am in school. As soon as I was done for the summer, I went onto goodreads and picked some books to get out of the library. I have been taking out books like crazy in the hopes that I will read them all before the fall term. I too am a slow reader, though, so I am worried I won't finish them all. I read a ton of blogs too, which can provide a lot of the same information, but not as in depth. Reading books isn't necessarily better than other kinds of reading, but books offer a kind of depth and time for story telling that other mediums don't.

T

[miraclejackson]

Yeah fuck Goodreads that site is like a self-administered back-pat for the worst kind of nerds NO OFFENSE ANYBODY i only have an account to berate people who give my book a negative review there.