Young Writers Society

Tell us your own reading habits. What do you read in an average day? How do you read it? Do you think you are reading more because technology makes books, magazines, newspapers, Web sites, blogs and other sources of print entertainment and information easily available? How do you find new things to read? Do you browse bookstores or Web sites, or get recommendations from friends, teachers, social media or elsewhere?

dhyan wrote:What do you read in an average day?

Average day? Hmm.

Well, if you mean how many pages I can read in a day, it varies depending how busy I am or what the book is (if it's particularly addictive, you know I'm going to read a lot more than normal). I'm a fast reader, so usually I can read at least fifty pages in a single sitting, sometimes a hundred or more.

The fastest I've ever read was, I believe, a six hundred-plus page book in twenty-four hours. I could read even faster than that, if I had the time... >.<

If you mean what I read genre-wise... I read anything and everything, quite honestly. XD

Mostly, I read adult literature, with the occasional venture into teen fic (though most YA books are absolute trash these days), or even children's novels (which often have YA elements to them and are actually far more entertaining, in my opinion... better-written, too).

I like mystery and suspense, thrillers, realistic novels... there's not one exact genre I stick to.

How do you read it?

Um. Depends how you mean.

Well, for one thing, I never read on a tablet or e-reader or whatever they're called. I'm terribly old-fashion (and my mother's a technophobe), so I read only books that are actually books, with smooth covers and pages.

(Please don't hate me, tablet-users.)

I honestly can't imagine reading off some bright, annoying little screen.

I like to read in absolute silence. I can read in noisy environments, but I rarely do because I find it... unpleasant. When I read, I hope to get fully lost in the story, and being in a noisy environment prevents me from doing that (trying to read with some annoyingly loud person talking on their phone next to me is kind of hellish).

I also reread a lot. Obsessively, even. I'll reread words, paragraphs, sentences, or entire pages several times before being able to move on to the next part. I guess it's the obsessive compulsive side to me. I try to really absorb everything I can when I read, and therefore feel the (ridiculous) urge to reread as much as I can until what I'm reading has fully, one hundred percent sunk in. If that makes sense.

Do you think you are reading more because technology makes books, magazines, newspapers, Web sites, blogs and other sources of print entertainment and information easily available?

I suppose. I read a lot of articles on Yahoo (guilty pleasure), and I read a lot of threads/posts on here, as well as a fun cell phone game called Cause of Death that is written like a novel, so I am reading more... just not books. But still, reading is reading.

Book-wise, I do think Amazon's nice. There're times when my local bookstores just don't have what I'm looking for or when I need a book urgently, so Amazon's always great to have.

Not sure how else to answer this.

How do you find new things to read? Do you browse bookstores or Web sites, or get recommendations from friends, teachers, social media or elsewhere?

I do get recommendations from friends, but the sad truth is, my friends have horrible taste read novels I have no interest in. For example, my friends read things like Divergent, Harry Potter, Pretty Little Liars, Hunger Games, Twilight... all of that typical YA stuff (some of it absolute crap). I don't read any of that (seriously, I haven't read any of those... well, except for Pretty Little Liars, but I only read that because my friend forced me to).

Mainly, I get my books by going to bookstores and finding hidden gems, or by curiosity from media exposure or what have you.

Lol! My bad! How much in average do you read a day is what i meant. But you gave some terrific answers.

Anyone else?

I don't read the newspaper, I usually listen to the radio to hear the local and national news. Magazines have never appealed to me, but I visit websites like twitter, tumblr, facebook and YWS daily. I read a book at least every two-four days. If I'm busy, maybe a week to a week and a half. I usually check out what amazon has and then if I like the look of the book click 'readers also bought'. I don't really take suggestions from anyone, if I'm honest. I forget about it after someone tells me "You have to read this book!" If it catches my eye, I'll read it.

I don't get much input from media, because I don't generally watch television or read the paper (aside from comics and the odd article).

Honestly, I think the media today is crazy. I don't even like using Facebook because, surprise, it always puts something in one's face. But I digress.

If it's a book I really like (or a comic) I can read for so long, it gives me a headache. I generally stay away from nonfiction because, hey, there's only so many ways to arrange words in such a way as to present facts.

I hated Twilight. Don't care who knows it. It was the usual teenage angst, with vampires.

Erm. I've been having reader's block a lot lately. But I'd thought I'd post.

Harry Potter fanatic! By sixth grade, I'd read the Harry Potter series fourteen-and-a-half times. Then I entered my classics era: Poe, Lovecraft, H.G. Wells, L.M. Montgomery, Irving, Tolkien, all the good stuff. Tolkien's genius. I'm actually on a quest to memorize the poems in the LOTR series. Poems ... I love reading them, although I don't write them. I'm not a big fan of Poe's poetry, but I memorized the Raven (it took a loooong time). Emily Dickenson's okay. I'm a fan of Ruth Benedict, but she wasn't really a poet.

I can't stand YA fiction either, @Lucrezia. I mean, occasionally I might pick up Mockingjay (gotta love the Rome allusions), but ... eurgh. Disgusting. (Don't tell anyone I stay up random nights reading Amazon reviews that tear Divergent apart.)

I'm one of those people who can't read something without analyzing it. I literally threw down Rowling's book once because she used the same dialogue tag thrice on a page. But I can plow through things like Frankenstein. The narrator might be annoying, but the writing's decent.

In terms of genre ...

It varies. I mean, right now I'm reading The Caine Mutiny, and I love it more than I love Anne McCaffrey's work. But I also love H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Ender's Game.

Bradbury's rather recent. I got into his short stories and The Martian Chronicles March. He's an absolute genius. My favorite work of his so far is Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed. And Fahrenheit 451, of course.

Now and again, I devour a Piers Anthony novel or reread The Hitchhiker's Ultimate Guide to the Galaxy.

Wow. That got long.