My reading habits

I always have a book on the go. My reading habits go in phases. I normally read in bed before going to sleep although find that a couple of glasses of wine mean having to re-read a chapter or two in the morning. I also read on train journeys/holidays etc. I cannot concentrate when stessed.

I prefer the classics with female heroines. My favourite book is Vanity Fair. Currently reading The Forsyte Saga.

I belong to two book clubs which mean you read books you might not necessarily select yourself. Other people's comments are always interesting. As I get older I find it difficult to remember a book once finished.

I have always found it a struggle to finish a book I am not enjoying and normally know if I'm going to give up by Chapter 3.

Betty blog

On behalf of Betty...

Sorry for the delay, here goes

I usually read on the train and in particular in the mornings as I’m more with it. In the evening I need time to look out of the window, work or send some text messages. If my book is particularly good then it gets read both ways. My other time for reading in on holiday and I usually take about 5-6 books, all carefully selected beforehand to ensure I’ve got a good mix to match my moods and to mix things up

Reading is escapism and learning for me, it’s a chance to forget I’m sitting on the 07.36 and instead feel like I’m a million miles from my everyday life. I tend to read a mix of fiction, real life, particularly climbing and cycling as well as work related books. The work ones are never too heavy so things like the Tipping Point

Favourite author is probably Douglas Coupland and Joe Simpson. Favourite book would be Perfume

I buys my books in a mix of places, often Borders close to where I live and usually when they have offers on. I will look at the jackets and see what takes my fancy and I keep a list of the new releases so I can remember to buy them when they come out in paperback. I also keep a list so I can price check on the web and will then sometimes order via Amazon

I like my bookshelf, it’s like a trophy cabinet so I don’t really like to lend my books out. I also don’t like to borrow books as I feel there is a pressure to read and return within a certain timeframe. I treat my books with respect so you will rarely find one that has the spine broken!! (probably says a lot about me!). They are also arranged by Author/size (I’m a Virgo OK!)

I don’t use Facebook too often but I do have virtual bookshelf to keep a tab on everything I read

Am i an e-reader convert?

I find there's nothing more comforting than curling up on the sofa after a long day and escaping into a world of fiction.

As a kid I couldn't go to sleep unless I'd read at least one chapter of whatever book was on the go. Reading was always associated with bedtime and many a night I'd stay up way past it greedily reading my books.

I guess reading for me was therefore associtated with the forbidden and was an indulgence I wanted whenever I could sneak in the time. And because books are a silent past time, I could surrendor myself to the weird and wonderful worlds of fiction without being caught out.

And now, the feeling of physically thumbing through a well read book brings back waves of nostalgia from those secretive days. The tangibility of having a book in my hand, with tumbed pages and notations and indicators of past-time readings could never be replaced for me.

what I'm reading

I just finished reading "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and can't recommend it enough. It's going to be one of those books I buy for all my reader friends.
I picked it up at my local bookshop because I liked the cover, didn't know anything about it but I realised it was on display because it had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. So it was a bit of a gamble but I absolutely loved it.
I finished it last night, and started "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk on the bus this morning - very different and recommended by a couple of friends as their favourite Palahniuk. It's quite small so I might be able to finish it by Friday so I can go on hols with another book. I've picked 3 candidates to choose from at the last minute but I also just ordered "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace (couldn't find it in bookshops). If I get it in time, I'll probably end up with 2 books for the trip. Unless I take "Infinite Jest" which is enormous and quiet daunting, but meant to be absolutely brilliant.

Top recommendation

I've just had a delivery from Amazon. 'Stumbling on Happiness' by Daniel Gilbert. Normally I would give any self help type of book the widest berth possible. This comes recommended, however, by Stefan Sagmeister one of the coolest guys on the planet. He's a top designer who made his name with his album covers for the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed amongst others. If its good enough for him...

Printed books are the most important medium today

I currently have about 50 or so unread books on my wobbly bookshelf (from a collection of about 300). I partly blame this number on the simplicity of Amazon’s One-Click ordering system. I primarily blame it on my own endless curiosity:

(For instance, thanks to page 33 of the book ‘Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?’ I now know how toothpaste manufacturers get stripes in toothpaste!).

Anyway – when I was younger I had a similarly expensive relationship with music – vinyl in particular. But, whilst I still feel the same love for music today that I developed during my youth, I now spend significantly more time in Waterstones or on Amazon, than in HMV or iTunes.

However, this shift in priorities has nothing to do with life-stage.

(Switching to planner mode)

In today’s digital world, media is constantly evolving (music in particular is open to re-working, re-interpreting or remixing). But, because media is more accessible – and therefore more disposable – there is less intrinsic value in consumption. Sharing has become the primary source of enjoyment. (How often do you listen to songs on your iPod in their entirety?)

Many people have stated that it’s not the technology that’s driving this change, but the behaviour of the individual: We've essentially moved from a 'need-to-know' to a 'need-to-share' culture. Sharing is about one’s search for identity. It’s about the need of the individual to be validated by their peers - about them trying to figure out ‘how to live’.

(Planner mode off)

Which brings me to two reasons I love books and will always have unread books on my wobbly bookshelf.

1. In times of uncertainty – along with the ever-changing messiness of the web – the humble printed book represents something definite. Predictable. Complete. It does not need to be ‘mashed’ or ‘remixed’ to take it to a wider-audience. The individual will discover it, when the time is right.

2. Whatever trends or cultural shifts happen, one will always find oneself in a book. Or, as Ralph Waldo Emerson put more eloquently, "What can we read, but ourselves. Take the book, my friend, and read your eyes out; you will never find there, what I find."

That’s why I love printed books - and also why I think they are the most valuable medium in the digital age.

Just a quick thought

I'm not sure I can demarcate an activity called "reading" unless it includes so much that it is a redundent category. Even if I ignore the reading I do for work, I've normally got something nearby to read: newspapers, blog posts, magazine articles, chapters of books, whole books. I read some on my phone, a lot on my laptop or printed from the web, and some in actual old fashioned books.

Also, I'm not sure how to disentangle a lot of this reading from socialising as so much [mainly online but also offline] socialising is driven by text and texts. This didn't seems important in the past when books or magazines were the unit of exchange, but now I get sent articles all the time and, thanks to google sharing, delicious and the blogs I have in common with friends, shared texts are now part of conversation.

As a result, I think people read more often and more widely than in the past, and they do so in all sorts of different ways which don't seem to have much in common. I imagine that reading a trashy celeb auto-biog would feel like a long OK magzine. A thriller seems to have more in common with a film. And reading a proper history book is slow, reviewing, discursive, note taking process - which perhaps has more in common with a serious blog.

The fact that someone's reading in a particular format doesn't tell you very much. You need to know what they reading and the rhythms they're reading at.

I'll think more about this later.