Reading is a chore?

[Suze]

That being said, if anyone has recommendations that I can fit in between Christmas and the start of next semester, I'm always up for reading something new.  Of course, I'm with Xan (?).  I love the chance to read something that has no requirement for brain participation.  

If you like mystry stories try any of "The Cat Who ....(they all start that way with something else after it) " novels by Lillian Jackson Braun.  The main carrictures are a pair of Siamese cats.  They are an afternoon read, not very deep. just the thing for a lazy day

Or if you are into fantasy try "Xanth" novels by Piers Anthony also and afternoon read and full of really bad puns.

Suze

[hobish]

That being said, if anyone has recommendations that I can fit in between Christmas and the start of next semester, I'm always up for reading something new.  Of course, I'm with Xan (?).  I love the chance to read something that has no requirement for brain participation.  

If you like mystry stories try any of "The Cat Who ....(they all start that way with something else after it) " novels by Lillian Jackson Braun.  The main carrictures are a pair of Siamese cats.  They are an afternoon read, not very deep. just the thing for a lazy day

Or if you are into fantasy try "Xanth" novels by Piers Anthony also and afternoon read and full of really bad puns.

Suze

Bwaa haaa haaaa! I read so many of those darned Xanth novels in high school until i couldn't take one more single bad pun. My dad would bring home a stack of them every few days & i would blow through them.



I think most of the posters on here are right about needing to find whatever it is a kid will like to read to get them into it. I was allowed to read anything i wanted & went nuts on my dad's sci-fi collection.

Also, the teaching method seems to matter. My mom taught me to read with phoenics & from there on out i could decipher anything. My brother, on the other hand, learned to read in school & they were using the method whee they will show you a picture of something & then the word, if you know what i mean. I don't understand how people are suposed to really learn anything that way, but i am not a teacher, either. In any case, guess which one of us loves to read & which one does only casually.

 My 6th grade teacher went so far as to call my mom because one of the sci-fi books that my dad had bought for me (H. Beam Piper, Fuzzy Papers) had curses in it & the teacher happened to see it. My mom freaked out & gave him an ear-ful & will STILL bring up what a jack-*** he was. In 9th grade, though, my best friend & i would check out a book in the morning (Christopher Pike & the like, 95 - 108 pg shorties) & return it at the end of the day. Our history teacher caught both of us reading in class & after that he would ask us questions at the begining of class & if we got them right we were allowed to read. He was a great teacher. The school librarian on the other hand yelled at us one day that if we were going to keep checking books out we could at least read them. She didn't believe that we read that much or that fast. You'd think we'd be her favorites, but for some reason she did not like either of us at all.

...rambling mellliemel

[Brentwood]

deja vu:  my own Mother's pronouncement when she caught me reading in the daytime:   "If you don't have anything better to do than THAT, I'll GIVE you something to do."

I guess this explains people who think that reading is a waste of time.

My mother always had a book, no matter what else she was doing. Reading, knitting - I even saw her reading a book while cooking, holding the book in one hand and stirring with the other. We exchange books all the time, and every visit involves a trip to the library book sale.

I spent hours lying on top of my bed reading, and countless other hours reading under the willow tree in our backyard. On a good day, I could go through two or three Nancy Drews. During the 70s when we spent summer vacations at my uncle's lake property, I was pleased that I had a bed with a reading light. I checked out library 15 books for one week.

[Brentwood]

Oooohhh... this annoys me to no end. when my son was in second grade he got hooked on reading with the Harry Potter series. Once he'd read through the books we'd bought him he wanted to check out similar books at school. They wouldn't let him b/c second graders were not allowed to check out chapter books!

Second graders can't check out chapter books? My daughter is in first grade and she reads chapter books in class!

I say to let kids read what they are comfortable reading.

[Reika]

Wow, it's great to see that there are lots of other folks who love reading as much as I do. One of the few good things my mother's second ex did for me was give me my love of reading, when he and mom hooked up I was in 3rd grade on a 1st grade reading level, by the time I was in 5th grade I was reading and comprehending Stephen King. Thankfully every school I'd been in I always ended up on first name basis with the librarians who thought it was fantastic that I loved to read and would often make suggestions based on what they knew I liked. Unfortunately it was a mixed bag with the teachers, some thought it was great, others not so much and it was the later category that was the majority. Not surprisingly it caused me a lot of problems with my peers, especially in high school because I often read more books in a month than many did in their lives!

The only book I can remember truly despising is Wuthering Heights which I had to read in senior english. Before the teacher passed out the copies of the books she actually apologized for having to teach it because it was a requirement of the system that it be taught. By the time I was done reading that book I wanted to not only burn it, but wanted to track down the person who insisted that it be included and beat them with it.

My personal favorites are sci-fi and fantasy with the occasional horror or "action" book, romance doesn't do much for me usually because I'm too cynical for it though every so often I'll read something by Nora Roberts when she puts out one of her "modern fantasy" style books.

Er, sorry about the rambling.

[Lady Vavasour]

The only book I can remember truly despising is Wuthering Heights which I had to read in senior english. Before the teacher passed out the copies of the books she actually apologized for having to teach it because it was a requirement of the system that it be taught. By the time I was done reading that book I wanted to not only burn it, but wanted to track down the person who insisted that it be included and beat them with it.

Aww, I LOVE Wuthering Heights. I'm amazed an English teacher would have such a negative attitude towards it. 

[goblue2539]

If you like mystry stories try any of "The Cat Who ....(they all start that way with something else after it) " novels by Lillian Jackson Braun.  The main carrictures are a pair of Siamese cats.  They are an afternoon read, not very deep. just the thing for a lazy day

Or if you are into fantasy try "Xanth" novels by Piers Anthony also and afternoon read and full of really bad puns.

Suze

Thank you so much!  I've seen those Cat books, but never knew anyone who'd actually read them.  And I love a good mystery.  My composition teacher from this semester loaned me a book by Stephen White.  Has anyone heard of him?  I'll post a review after I read it if anyone is interested.  

[Reika]

Aww, I LOVE Wuthering Heights. I'm amazed an English teacher would have such a negative attitude towards it. 

I think it was because she was forced into using it, all the other books were of her own choice (which were from more modern times) and while I didn't like most of them they were interesting. Truthfully I'm not fond of any of the novels or stories from that time period, so it's not just Wuthering Heights.

[Slartibartfast]

Okay, time to pull out the light fiction book recommendations :-)

-  Dee Henderson's O'Malley series (first book is "The Negotiator") - Christian romantic suspense books.  Unlike many Christian romance books, which make me feel not-quite-good-enough because I don't have the exact same beliefs the characters do, these have a really good story and don't beat you over the head with the theology.  They start deciding they like each other, survive a few explosions, get to be good friends, catch the bad guy, and fall in love :-D

-  For some classic mysteries, you can't beat Agatha Christie.  I liked the Hercule Poirot ones the best, but if you're just going to pick up one book, go for "And Then There Were None."

-  John Grisham: my first (and favorite) was "The Last Juror."  I didn't expect to like his books, but he can go from a very intense situation, to a really insightful scene at a relaxed dinner, then jump back into the action again.  His books have a lot more meat to them than I thought they would, and I recommend them even if you don't normally like that genre.

-  My new favorite young adult story is "The Princess Academy" by Shannon Hale (315 pages).  The main character is smart, outgoing, and assertive, and you can completely empathize with her.  I'd recommend this as a Christmas present to any 10-15 year old girls on people's gift lists, by the way :-)

/end librarian enthusiastic gesticulations

[Lady Vavasour]

But it kinda saddens me that in this era of video games and the internet, that reading is falling out of practice or being seen as a "chore".

These days, I bet the number of books most kids have read can be counted on one hand...does that bother anybody else?

I don't know if that's an entirely fair generalization. I know a lot of teens who do still read a lot, even with tech filled houses, and many friends with young or new children are bringing them up to "the reading life style" I think a lot of times people seem eager to despair of "the younger generation" who ever it may be.

I think you make a good point, Aquigoth. Reading for pleasure is definitely not dead.

The funny thing is, it wasn't that long ago when people were decrying the amount of time spent by young people reading novels. Now people are getting anxious that they aren't being read enough.

[hobish]

My personal favorites are sci-fi and fantasy with the occasional horror or "action" book, romance doesn't do much for me usually because I'm too cynical for it though every so often I'll read something by Nora Roberts when she puts out one of her "modern fantasy" style books.

CRUD MONKEYS!, that made me laugh. My dad - he of the stacks & stacks of sci-fi that i love so much - really likes Nora Roberts.  Even at 50somethng if one of his friends sees them on his shelf he says they're my mom's. I know he has a bunch because he has loaned me at least 5 or so. When i had a nearly a year period where i couldn't concentrate enough to read (minor brain damage, long story) & was terribly frustrated dad gave me Nora Roberts ... and told me at least a half dozen times they were "LOANED NoT GiVeN. "


>gasp!< i think this post may finally make me not a N00b anymore!!

edited - it did! it did!! Yaaaaaaay!!!!!! 

[hobish]

Edited to add:  My husband isn't a reader at all.  Whereas I can't go anywhere without at least a magazine to read, he can sit on a 13 hour flight from Sydney to LAX without even looking at the inflight magazine.  On the other hand, I take so many books and magazines on the flights with me I'm surprised my hand luggage isn't charged extra for being overweight LOL.

"Find soething they'll like" works on big people, too. Mr. Goblin didn't like to read, but i finally got him to try Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card & he was ok with that, although he didn't go far in the rest of the series. Now it's a few years later & one of the things he wants most for Xmas is Richard Dawkin's new book to compliment The Ancestors Tale. I've created a monster.

[VorFemme]

I take a book with me *almost* everywhere.  My purse switches between a big one (room for a book AND wallet) and a smaller one that I carry a tote bag with the "extras" in - calendar/organizer, a book, notepad, stamps, etc.

My sister did make a comment last month that had me thinking.......

She has always enjoyed reading, counted cross stitch, crochet, and other activities that require a LOT of use of the eyes.  As she has gotten closer to fifty, she has noticed that her bifocals just don't quite give her the clear view that she always took for granted.  Eyestrain means that she has to limit her time spent reading for FUN because she has to do a lot of reading at work............

We were speculating that people who don't have good eyesight might not enjoy reading because the eyestrain is a cause of discomfort.  They may not realize WHY they aren't enjoying the activity - but.......anything that gives you a headache is likely to be an activity that you don't want to do as often.

Growing up and even eight years ago, we could stitch 22 count fabric (22 threads to the inch in even weave for counted cross stitch) - now 14 count is more comfortable for long embroidery session.........

I used to be able to rip black stitches out of black fabric when sewing without any more light than the rest of the room had.  Now there are indivual 75 watt lamps at my sewing machine, serger, and even the computer - in case I need more light to SEE what I am doing.  I just need more light to see the details that I used to see even at lower light levels.........

[kareng57]

I'll admit that I really don't understand many of the comments here.  Must everyone love to read?

Actually I read a lot and so does Dh.  I read to my kids when they were little, took them to the library, suggested books, etc.  When they were younger they read a fair bit but don't really seem to read for pleasure much right now (the're 18 and 19).  Maybe they will again when they're older but I just don't see it as something to get wound-up about.  It's true that sometimes there are reasons why someone doesn't like reading i.e. bad school experiences - but there are always going to be kids and adults who don't enjoy reading.  It doesn't necessarily mean that they were exposed to too much media-stimulation (i.e. TV, video games) or were never given the "right" kinds of books.  For example, just because a kid enjoys football doesn't necessarily mean that he'll love reading about it.

One analogy might be gardening.  One person does it out of necessity - she wants a nice-looking garden and can't afford to hire someone else to do it, so she does it herself but considers it a chore. Another person is passionate about gardening, looks forward to it and would feel extremely frustrated if she suddenly had to stop for some reason.

[Reika]

CRUD MONKEYS!, that made me laugh. My dad - he of the stacks & stacks of sci-fi that i love so much - really likes Nora Roberts.  Even at 50somethng if one of his friends sees them on his shelf he says they're my mom's. I know he has a bunch because he has loaned me at least 5 or so. When i had a nearly a year period where i couldn't concentrate enough to read (minor brain damage, long story) & was terribly frustrated dad gave me Nora Roberts ... and told me at least a half dozen times they were "LOANED NoT GiVeN. "


>gasp!< i think this post may finally make me not a N00b anymore!!

edited - it did! it did!! Yaaaaaaay!!!!!! 

Hehe, I dunno there's just something about some of her books that I enjoy reading. Maybe it's because what I've read weren't pure bodice rippers, she tried to make her characters people that I could relate to. Unfortunately most books in the romance category don't fall into that for me.

And gratz on the non-noobishness!