Reading, a little at a time.

[girl_called_sun]

Sometimes, you have to be quite ingenious if you are going to find the time to get your book read. There are hours and hours of reading in a novel (I would say six to ten, on average) and how do you fit that into a hectic modern lifestyle?

Some of my techniques include:

• staying up late - I can sleep after chapter 9.
• getting up early - I can get out of

Comments

[lyredenfers]

There's something very comforting about sitting down with a book and being able to go somewhere that isn't here. Years ago I developed the habit of bringing a book wherever I go - I noticed this the other day - and I still do it, despite the fact that I rarely pull out the book when I'm not at home. I hate that people are reading less and less, and that it's harder to justify reading time when you have so many more things you should be doing as you grow up. I used to take out a book anywhere, and happily ignore the world!

I do think, though, that good stories are good stories, and when I do sit down to read, I would rather read a novel than a short story. The other thing, though, is that television is so accessible, and with that you get ongoing character development, which is my favourite part of any storytelling... so shamefully I am getting my stories that way more often than in written form.

... I should probably try to read more often. I love books.

[girl_called_sun]

I always make sure I have a book if I am going anywhere, especially if public transport of any kind is involved.

I really fell out of the reading habit when I first went to University, there were just so many other things that had to be fitted in. TV became a really social thing - you watch it in a group, talk about it - and it is so instant. I'm bad at following tv, though, I miss episodes and fall out of the loop.

That's what I love about books - there are right where I left them.

[girl_called_sun]

I read my Dad's Spike Milligan war memoirs until they fell to pieces. Funniest things ever, apart from where they are the saddest.

I wish I could get into audiobooks, but I find them like films of books - the voices are never quite as I would have them, so they don't quite work for me.

[osprey_archer]

Yay Shadow Unit! They're starting the new season March 1. I'm not sure I can survive that long.

College has totally sapped my reading time. I used to be able to finish a book a day (of course, the books I read were shorter then) and now it takes foreverI've never been fond of short stories, so I hope anthologies and such aren't the wave of the future. Likewise, I like my paper books, and would be deeply depressed to see them replaced by Kindle et al. I love the fact that books last, as long as someone knows the language their written in; other things need a machine that knows the language, so you end up with heaps of useless Atari games and eight-track tapes. Maybe they'll still work a hundred years from now, but who will have the equipment to use them

[girl_called_sun]

Oh, Shadow Unit. Must re-read Refining fire and all the extras before March 1st.

I like short stories. Raymond Carver, Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman. They are perfect little jewels, all one thing.

I don't think we'll lose novels, but I wonder if there will be more bite sized writing, for want of a better phrase. I can see the idea and the utility of Kindle type things, but so soul-less. I don't really like reading off a screen.

I took a book on a pony trek once. I didn't actually read whilst riding, but I did when we stopped for lunch. It was Touching the Void, and I had to find out how he got out of the crevasse.

[osprey_archer]

I think reading off a screen is fine for short things, but for long...

The thing about reading off a screen is that it's so impermanent. Like fanfic - it's so ephemeral, it gets read for a couple of days and then it drops off the map. Occasionally I'll follow a link that's supposed to take me to a fic somewhere, only to discover the fic has disappeared, and it always makes me sad.

Speaking of bite-sized writing - have you read haikujaguar's Kherishdar stories? (You have to scroll down a ways to see them.) They're quite short, and I think you might enjoy them.