Time to read everything... where is it?

I buy books faster than I can read them, I admit, but even the books' very presence in my house makes me feel good. Sadly you can't read by osmosis. So you have to pick them up and look at the pages instead of merely inhabiting the same house. They live here, I pay the rent...

I don't read blogs any more, or newspapers and only buy one magazine a week. As for books; I have about ten on the go at once - history, biography, YA, non-fiction, women's, science, poetry...I read on the bus to and from work, during my break, in the morning over breakfast, at night over dinner, on my days off, when out walking, weekends...it's never a chore though, because it's my favourite thing to do; that and writing.

I never think about how much I spend reading and writing, because I love it so much. I say that, but I do think about time, only along the lines of, "I wish I had more," though.

Before I had kids I used to spend every spare moment reading. Now I complain that I don't have time, but I think really, you need to make time. Even people with kids, can make time. You just have to do it. I often feel overwhelmed by the number of things I want to do, but can't see that there will ever be enough hours in the day. I even read a time management book once. It was full of good advice but I lost it all somewhere between the reading of it and the doing of it. (or the intention of doing it)

To me reading is not so much about the timing, It's whether I feel like reading or not. I don't read various books at once. I like to take a chance at reading an area of interest within a unique present moment, before moving onto something else. For me, it remains a paceful and relaxing enjoyment, as I always make the 'time' for it.

Simple Living said:

I love to read. It's a passion of mine. I'm involved with writing freelance and fiction. Learning your craft means reading... a lot!

I'm beginning to feel pressed when it comes to keeping current with everything that needs reading -- fiction, nonfiction, blogs, magazines, etc. Where do you find the time? It seems to be a full time job just trying to keep up with reading, much less writing!

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I'm sorry, did you say KEEP UP with reading? You're joking, right?

I have at least 70 books and 12 magazines at home in my "to read" stack. That was before I went shopping Sunday for Christmas gifts. I got the gifts, but I also got myself one more book and three magazines. And come Christmas day, because books are almost all I ever request, I expect to have seven or eight more under the tree.

I imagine I will catch up when I am stuck in my house for three months due to the flu pandemic. Think of it as just another prep - food, water, TP, medical supplies, and books.

Seriously, I do sympathize. I've just resigned myself to the fact that far more is written than I will ever have time to read, and my healthy supply of books only assures that I always have something to read no matter what mood I'm in.

chartreuse said:

...I have at least 70 books and 12 magazines at home in my "to read" stack...

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Is that all?!

I am a slow reader, so it takes tremendous effort for me to finish a book, usually takes up to a year or more. LOL. Currently my TBR list is in the double digit, and I've started on at least 3 books which I haven't had "time" to finish yet.

I'm hopeless.

I sometimes actually feel guilty if I buy books or magazines for myself. Silly really, but I'm always thinking "oh we need groceries, or the kids need new shoes, or there are 5 bills that need to be paid this week." But even when all those expenses aren't there, I still manage to feel guilty. A bit like if I'm tempted to buy chocolate biscuits or alcohol. Silly really.

I'm like Ray...I'm a terribly slow reader. But I find the time. I read every day...voraciously...just very slowly. My list is about 7 miles long. The one regret I'm going to have at the end of my life is not getting through my list of reading wannas.

Mandy-Jane said:

I sometimes actually feel guilty if I buy books or magazines for myself. Silly really, but I'm always thinking "oh we need groceries, or the kids need new shoes, or there are 5 bills that need to be paid this week." But even when all those expenses aren't there, I still manage to feel guilty. A bit like if I'm tempted to buy chocolate biscuits or alcohol. Silly really.

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It's not silly at all, it's quite the opposite. It's wonderful, and you should cherish the moment, and enjoy buying books or magazines for yourself. As afterall you do love them, and a guilt bunge shouldn't be an excuse to burden you down.

scarletpeaches said:

Is that all?!

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Sadly, yes.

Although I do occasionally think about getting rid of the BF so that I have more room (and more time!)

How many books is your boyfriend worth? Maybe I could buy him for 3 battered paperbacks and an audiobook?

scarletpeaches said:

How many books is your boyfriend worth? Maybe I could buy him for 3 battered paperbacks and an audiobook?

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LOL...I think I'd have to hold out for hardbacks. (He is very supportive of my writing!)

I read fast so I try to finish a book (novel) every two days. And if I'm reading for research, I tend to skim a lot. I try to stay up on my friends' blogs, but I rarely post in my own LJ unless I have something monumental I want to get off my chest. I avoid most television and that frees up time for reading. Oh yeah, and I have no job other than the smooth running of the joint. My kids are 14 and 20, so they only talk to me when they want money or clean underwear, so that's even more time.

scarletpeaches said:

How many books is your boyfriend worth? Maybe I could buy him for 3 battered paperbacks and an audiobook?

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Hey, can youse guys take this to over to http://paperbackswap.com?

chartreuse said:

I'm sorry, did you say KEEP UP with reading? You're joking, right?

I have at least 70 books and 12 magazines at home in my "to read" stack.

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I second Scarlet's response. I have maybe 5,000 to 7,000 books, and if you consider "read" has having read at least half the pages, I've only read maybe 1/4 or 1/3rd of them. (also, I've wanted to sell books - I did sell "a few" but over the years the bottom has been falling out of the online market...)

I read books when I'm in bed before going to sleep. It makes more sense than having the monitor in bed and surfing the net. I already do plenty of that.

Oh, and magazines. I just read Kate Wilhelm's "Naming The Flowers" in, IIRC, a 1993 issue of Fantasy an Science Fiction. Great story, but kinda weird. I have about three or four decades of Analog, and a few hundred other SF digest magazines, and I've only read maybe five to ten years' worth.

Simple Living said:

I love to read. It's a passion of mine. I'm involved with writing freelance and fiction. Learning your craft means reading... a lot!

I'm beginning to feel pressed when it comes to keeping current with everything that needs reading -- fiction, nonfiction, blogs, magazines, etc. Where do you find the time? It seems to be a full time job just trying to keep up with reading, much less writing!

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Who keeps up?

I'd consider it a sad day if I ever looked around and realized there was nothing in my house I hadn't already read.

I try to keep my stack small, four or five books at most. This is because I used to have a habit of buying a whole bunch of books... and then never reading them. I find I have to be in a particular mood to start each book... what interests me one week will no longer interest me the next. So when I finish one book I have to go back to my pile or the store or the library all over again to see what interests me THIS time.

Also, I tend to alternate. I don't read a whole lot when I'm neck deep in my own writing, because I'm trying to keep my prose consistent. But now, for instance, I'm plowing through a bunch of books my husband's been wanting me to read.

My TBR pile is nearly 300-strong and I added another three to it in the past couple of days.

I'm lucky (depending how you look at it), I have an hour commute both ways to my studio in Hollywood every day. I listen to books on tape constantly. I've tried listening while sitting stationary; it doesn't work. You need to be driving. If not for that ride I'd only get reading done in the morning...just after my coffee if you get my drift.

Simple Living said:

Where do you find the time? It seems to be a full time job just trying to keep up with reading, much less writing!

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I used to really stress about this, particularly when I was doing a lot of book reviews. I had to accept that reality that, with three kids, the only reading I'll be doing over the next several years will be the books I'm encouraging them to devour. There's not enough time in the day to work, go to college, take care of them, take care of the house, and run around like a crazy woman trying to get all the errands finished. (And that's just my short list - it's freakin' busy around here!) I'm getting better at *scheduling in* ME TIME, and that includes reading (for pleasure . . . not just for work, school or the kids). Then, of course, I struggle with guilt . . . because I feel like I should be doing something else.

I get paid to read, so I don't have to feel like I'm stealing time to read.

When it's time to "go to work", I head out to the front yard with book, cigar and gin and tonic, and settle in.

The neighbours do look at me a little strangely when I do this at six in the morning, though. Especially in December.

maestrowork said:

I am a slow reader, so it takes tremendous effort for me to finish a book, usually takes up to a year or more. LOL. Currently my TBR list is in the double digit, and I've started on at least 3 books which I haven't had "time" to finish yet.

I'm hopeless.

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Me too. Since the summer I've started, and not finished, a dozen books. I don't buy magazines because they always sit unread. The newspaper we get hardly ever gets opened. My blog reads are limited to a fairly close knit group (many from here). And I generally don't read non-fiction unless I'm doing research for my writing.

In other words, I concentrate more on my own writing than anyone else's. Does that make me a bad person?

This is more to do with writing than reading, but here goes it anyway:

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love! - then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

-Keats

Simple Living said:

I want your job, without the gin. What job pays you to read?
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! :

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A blend of things, really.
The freelance writing ACTUALLY pays me to read the books (I'm one of those rare reviewers who actually reads the books I'm reviewing), but the reading does pay off at the bookstore job...

You shouldn't attempt it without the gin, though. This is a rough trade...