Had a Labor Day barbecue and a guest said she felt sad for anyone who doesn't read at least one book per year

You should have told her you listen to books during your commute. Then you could have watched the real snob come out.

Jefe in the CO wrote:

stealer of material wrote:

I just finsihed reading the dictionary. Turns out the zebra did it.

Rats, I had my money on the zyzzyva.

zymurgy ftw.

maybe.

Naming all the books you've read in a year is rather pretentious.

Having said that, you don't even have time to read one book per year?

Does 'Fun Time with Elmo and Ernie' count as a book in your friend's eyes?

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

asdffsad wrote:

I'm a professional with a master's degree and I doubt I read one full book per year. I just don't usually have the patience; I feel much more relaxed by being outdoors on a run/hike or whatever. Reading is very boring for me. .

Who are you, George Dubya Bush???

http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/george_bush_audiobook_ad.jpg

(he couldn't even get through "My Pet Goat" ! )

SLA! You're back! Where were you, some kind of time warp? We've all moved on from GWB and now focus on Sarah.

You friend should be shedding a river of tears for the ignoramuses of LR (excluding my erudite self, of couse).

Everyone, thanks for the responses! I knew I'd get several colorful posts - you did not disappoint. To the poster who asked, I have a master's in management. Keep up the discussion!

Why does it have to be a book, I read numerous columns and articles online, but almost never read a book. Not reading books doesn't make you oblivious to the happenings of the world.

It certainly doesn't, no. But I do think that books exist for a very good reason: some topics and issues are complicated. It may take a couple hundred pages to give a proper accounting of whatever is that's under examination. Unless you read a lot of long-form journalism (and it sounds like you may) it's hard to appreciate complexity from reading even the best newspapers.

As for the guy who started this thread: there's a large body of research suggesting that raising children in a household with books gives them a big leg up in life. However much you may want to prove wrong a pretentious woman at a party, I'd think hard about depriving your children of what amounts to vitally important cognitive development. Should you decide to have kids, that is.

pablosan

"Reading is very boring for me"

sounds a lot like "exercise makes me all sweaty and tired".

There's a whole chunk of the human experience that you're missing out on. It's not reading books per se, but it's having the attention span to focus on something for an extended time. Having that skill opens up all sorts of experiences you've probably never even imagined. I feel sorry for you.

While I don't read at least one book a year, I do view porn daily so I feel pretty good about myself.

I used to read a lot when I was younger, but I just got tired of it.

............876 wrote:

There is no defense for not reading at least one book a year. It smacks of deliberate and willful ignorance, which is a far worse offense than arrogance. The sheer volume of work out there means anyone with half a brain can find something of interest and value to them.

I'd guess you went to a very, very sub-par college and have a throw-away graduate degree.

If you ever have kids, your being bored by books will show up in them. Prepare to raise morons.

I don't feel sorry for you, I feel disgust.

People should read: books, news, magazines, on-line, who cares and who is counting? I feel sorry for the BBQ lady, she is part of the finger-wagging "I don't own a tv" crowd. Likewise, I would feel bad for anyone who does not have an interest in reading at all. I think it is one of the most important things to pass along to kids, however, I have 2 kids and one a voracious reader/the other much less so, both very smart.

nice trolljob wrote:

8/10

Dude,

What the hell are you rating? I don't get it....

Flipside: I feel bad, too, but I feel bad about myself. (Because--let's be honest--isn't it all about me?)

In a great year, I might read 100 books. (Of course, that sort of means not being on this site...) Even if I live another 50 years (hah! based on family history, I'll be lucky to get half that), that means I'll read no more than 5,000 books in the rest of my life. And every old favorite that I re-read means another new book I'll never get to.

[The one positive of realizing this: I'm very ready to stop reading a book before I finish it. If I start it, but it's just not grabbing me, I'll put it down for some days or weeks, then I *might* pick it up again; but if I give it two chances and I still DNF, out it goes. (It helps that almost all the books I read are from the library. Lots cheaper that way.)]

Anyway, 5,000 books (and much more likely to be 1,000 - 2,000) for the remainder of my life doesn't seem like very many. Sad to think what I'll be missing.

Well.... wrote:

Having said that, you don't even have time to read one book per year?

Agree that not finishing even one book of some sort in a year is pretty pathetic.

However, what is possibly even more pathetic than the OP's inability to engage in educating himself, OR his arrogant BBQ guest's comments, is the guy who listed himself as a Facebook Fanboy of a book that he said was so boring he couldn't get through the second chapter...

He belittled the author's work for over five minutes in petty jealousy, then slapped his thug mug up on the book's site to up his "friend" count.

Sounds like my ex. Seriously, I have years where I probably don't read more than maybe one or two books or maybe none at all, then the next year I'll read 3 or 4 a month for several months. All just depends on what else is going on and whether I have cable or not.

Yeah, reading one book a year. That's hard. What a chore.

I haven't read a long book except when I have to for class but I always enjoy the Archie and Jughead Double Digests and sometimes even a Betty or Veronica The new Life with Archie is also kind of wild becuse sometimes he' s married to Betty and other time Veronica.

Maybe your snob friend thinks I should read Shakespear instead but its alot better than playing Halo all day.

Buy a Kindle you will read a lot more.