New government study: Americans are reading less than ever

[VenusInFauxFurs]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

Frankly, I'm of the somewhat bigoted opinion that people who don't read or "read only when they have to" don't do a lot of thinking, either.

It's like they have this silent void in their head, an absence of thought or imagination, just nothing until they have to focus on a task.

I just can't see people like that as worthwhile to know. I hold them in contempt.

Agreed. I'll admit, I just don't get people who don't love reading and books.

One of my turn offs is that silly joke that people use when asked about a certain book "Oh I'll just wait until the movie comes out."

[Grimmlok]

I usually cringe because the movie will be fucking awful.

[lisalucy69]

My parents and grandparents always read to me when i was little, and I have always loved to read. I read anything i can get my hands on from trashy romance novels to Stephen King to biographies...absolutely anything. If i am stuck somewhere waiting without a book ( I try to carry one all the time), I find myself reading pamphlets, labels, or whatever else i can find. It's like my mind needs that stimulation and knowledge. My husband rarely reads a book, and when he does, it's always non-fiction. He is not a "non-thinker" by any means, but he is someone who would rather jump right in and do something instead of reading about it. His mind is always working, and he is very creative. It's not that he doesn't like to read, he just would rather spend his time creating something, or physically doing something. Me, on the other hand, I can't read enough. My upstairs is all open and lined with built in bookshelves that i have full of every kind of book imagineable. I often re-read some of my favorites. I finally had to go through all my books and get rid of some of them, because i was running out of room, and also had boxes of books in the attic. It was hard to get rid of them, but really there are only a dozen or so authors that i could not part with. Given the right book, I will stay up all night to finish it, giving no thought to the fact that I have to be up early for work. I sometimes get frustrated that my favorite authors cannot keep up. I am constantly buying books for my nieces and nephews because i don't think enough emphasis is being placed on reading as it used to. As far as "waiting for the movie", which some of my friends have said as well, I am usually disappointed by the movie when i have already read the book. It kills me to see how much they cut out or change for the movie.

[buttmunch]

First, I can't imagine not reading. It's an integral part of my life and I freak out if I forget to bring a book in my bag when I leave the house. I have to go buy a paper, book or magazine.

I also think part of the problem is that the schools might be teaching kids to read but they're not teaching them to love books. My older heathen had a teacher who always gave him 'And the little bunny hopped down the road to see his good friend the turtle, who was busy baking a pie' kind of books and he really hated them. Finally I took him to a bookstore and said 'pick out whatever you want'. He found Captain Underpants and Anthony Horowitz and the rest is history. He reads every single day before going to sleep and runs to tell me about cool/exciting bits.

I should add that there is probably a contigent of parents and teachers who would freak over the books my kids read since there are mentions of *gasp!* farts, murder, dodgy dealings and rude comments. Me, I don't care. My parents let me read what I wanted and I'm doing the same with my little heathens.

[zebracakes]

I don't know if other schools are like ours, but from the time my daughter first started learning to read her school has forced her to include so many minutes of reading as part of her home work. I really believe this has turned her off from reading. She's an excellent reader--reads at a level several grades above her own--but refuses to read outside of her homework. I think they turned it into work instead of fun and ruined her attitude about it.

[buttmunch]

^^Yup, same teacher tried to pull that on my kid but I wasn't having it after awhile. We used to always read in bed, either me reading them a story or all of us reading our own books but she made it such a fucking chore that I finally told her I wouldn't do it anymore. She was NOT happy but too bad, I managed to save my kid from hating reading and that's more important.

[birdmadgirl]

When I was a kid, we didn't have much money, so we didn't go on trips or have ten tons of toys. But I had a library card that I used every week, and in books, I got to "go" on trips and "see" things that were out of my reach.

In grade school, I was taught how to speed read--and have been gobbling books up since. Even with working full time, chasing after 3 kids and doing my freelance design jobs, I still put away 3-4 books a week. I can't imagine not having a stack of books waiting for me each day.

My kids also began to lose interest in reading because of school. They were assigned a level and then were restricted from checking out books that did not fall within their level. It was some sort of points system. I had to gripe at their teachers and demand that they be allowed to read whatever they wanted. The worst thing on the world would be for reading to be some sort of chore, and that's what it was turning in to for them.

[radha]

i wish i could say i read a lot, but i never seem to find the time