Tuesday 22 June 2010

Reading for pleasure - who wouldn't do it??

I have been sitting outside in the sunshine, reading Dombey and Son and taking notes.There is nothing nicer at the end of a day at work than to be at home with no pressing chores and be able to settle down to read. There is a friend of mine who never seems to read.We started our book club and she came along as a social member - not by design, but because she never got round to reading anything.



She always seem to think it quite funny that she never read, but, after a while, it began to slightly irritate me. The rest of us led busy lives too, but we managed to find the time, usually just before bed, to read. I wondered at how awful it must be, not to read. I suppose that what you don't do, you don't miss. Reading has never been a chore for me - more an absolute pleasure.I would be mortified to admit to people that I never read.I think some people see it as some sort of badge of honour .... an achievement...I certainly don't see it as that. If, for some reason, I did not read, I certainly would not admit to it...

I am not saying that you have to huddle in a darkened room with only a reading light and a copy of Solzhenitsyn for company. But whatever is your chosen pleasure - whether it be Dickens or Danielle Steele, Bronte or Grisham - reading is a pleasure. It is an escape from the everyday world, an escape into a world where one can experience other lives, other emotions. For me it is relaxation and therapy...

I would imagine that most of you who enjoy blogs and blogging enjoy reading too... What do you read? Who do you read? I would love to know...

7 comments:

Kork said...

I'm with you! I am a Reader...capitalized by my First Grade teacher waaay back in the day...I remember picking up The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when I was only 6 and reading it all the way through...reading many, many more novels as I grew up...

I read anything I can get my hands on, and in fact, just bought my husband a Nook for Fathers' Day, because he wants to read more!

We love Vince Flynn novels, a bit like Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October - intrigue, military, political ins and outs...I also enjoy Robert Jordan, and the good old classics...I just picked up Gone With the Wind for the bazillionth time. :D

Urban Cynic said...

When I was younger I used to read fiction & now I don't at all. I only read factual books (usually biography books & history books)

I still love books but I like to escape through film & learn through books more than before. Reading a lot when I was young definitely helped me learn to spell quicker than the other kids too.

My brother who is 29, doesn't read at all & never has done. He doesn't care one jot. I think you're either a reader of you're not.

I'm also not one of those people who will struggle through a book; if it's shit after 3 chapters then you're out! Life's too short for bad literature.

Gail said...

I read every thing (except Harlequin Romance) even the cereal box if nothing else is handy.

Caz said...

Like you, I have never found reading a chore and when I'm not at uni, I have been known to read a book every three or four days! I'm a huge Jane Austen fan but since doing literature at uni, my scope has expanded to Greek literature, which I absolutely love (surprisingly)! At the moment I'm reading Brideshead Revisited - Edith Waugh and I also enjoy Australian authors such as Miles Franklin, Tim Winton, Helen Garner. I love the library!!!

sarah at secret housewife said...

I knew you ladies would love reading!! I am with you Gail when you talk about reading cereal boxes! When I was a child I read everything and that meant labels,street signs - you name it.At the moment ( and this is usual for me) I have a few books on the go - 3 cups of tea, Dombey and Son,Jane Austen Biography and just about to re-read Great Gatsby.

Non-fiction is not my favourite Urban Cynic, but I do enjoy biographies and the odd dip into something now and then.

Great to hear your views! Caz, I've not read any of your Australian authors, but will look out for them.

Kork, I love the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe too. How many wardrobes have I peeked into hoping to find snow and trees!!

Sarah x

Anonymous said...

I am also an avid reader, I used to read anything and everything going, from chick lit to gruesome crime, but like Caz, studying literature has refined my taste to the the more literary modern fiction and classics. I still feel very under read and am trying to work my way through a personal 'must read' list. Reading for me as a child was an escape route - I can't imagine what I would have done if I hadn't had books.

FarmWife said...

I love to read. There is nothing more cathartic than opening up a new book.

I'm a fiction/novel girl, myself. I do enjoy a biography or history on occasion, but always return to my love of make believe.

Miss Austen, the Bronte sisters, Bram Stoker, and other classics have homes on my shelves right next to Twilight, Jan Karon, Grisham, Francine Rivers, and many others.

Currently I'm working on The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. I just finished How To Tell if Your Boyfriend is the Antichrist (and if he is should you break up with him), and How to Survive in a Horror Movie. Both were short & very funny!

Oh, and then there's my newfound passion of monster mash-ups. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters, and Android Karenina. Loved them all!