Booking Through Thursday: Stats

[parelle]

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

I have to say

Comments

[anasai]

I finished HP7 last month, but I don't remember having finished another book in the last year (though there's a few I've gotten partway through). I certainly do lots of reading in terms of papers/theses/internet/magazines, but I don't often find the large blocks of time for reading books, since if I don't finish something soon after I start it, I usually don't finish it at all.

I'd guess the vast majority of my friends have also read at least a book or two this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if neither of my parents had. (My father, strangely, is a voracious reader of everything but books. He's the sort of man who brings newspapers out to dinner with him so he'll have something to read.)

[tudorpot]

My sister and I were invited into our new neighbors house a few months after he moved. His decor was quite modern and male, lots of black and glass. It wasn't until later that we realised what we had seen or not seen. There was not a single book in the house. Not one. I on the other hand have a problem keeping the books in my bed to a reasonable number, never mind the ones on just about every surface. I read books, new ones, old ones, some many times over. Now I'm reading ebooks.

[xallanthia]

IN your bed? Then again, I've been known to do this (mostly by accident) which has at least once resulting in my re-purchasing a book only to discover, months later, that it had fallen between the bed and the wall.

[tudorpot]

I just HAVE to read before I go to sleep. Sometimes, I read a new book and then find it's not sitting right, so go back to a fav oldie, but what genre, comedy, mystery, romance? So each night I grab two or three and settle in. Somedays I don't tidy and they start to breed. Piles form on bedside table and some slide under pillows. And then there are the books in the bathroom....

I love your icon, my grandad was a merchant sailor on tall ships.

[parelle]

*pops head in as the icon maker* Thank you :) The text is from one of my favorite poems.

"Sea-Fever"

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)

[olde_fashioned]

My brother and I are both voracious readers, and my mom loves books as well. My dad hasn't read a book in I don't know how long, and the only books my grandma reads are paperback grocery store novels...

I agree with elwe on Joel Osteen -- he certainly preaches some questionable things IMVHO. ;-)

[scibilia]

My parents often go months without reading a single book, if you exclude things like textbooks and manuals that my dad might have. This was true even when we were little and had a house full of books and my mother was always taking us to the library. Actually, there are probably more children's books than adult books at my house, even though the youngest is just starting college.

[xallanthia]

I don't think my parents read much, either. If my dad's read a book in the past year, it was when he was on vacation... which means, unless he read a book while they were at the shore a few weeks ago, he probably hasn't. Or if he has, it was maybe just the one.

Mom will read on vacation, sometimes, but she's far more likely to read bits of books to get the information she needs. Most recently Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective (hey, at least she picked Meyendorff) and an Orthodox couples workbook called Preserve Them, O Lord by Fr. John Mack. I think she just looked up "orthodox wedding" on amazon.