I personally LOVE to read!!!
And I think reading is a wonderful tool which enables us to stay generally current, on what ever interests catch our fancy.
I also believe that reading helps keeps out vocabulary strong, making our communication skills better ...
Not to mention that for me ....
Reading is My Favorite escape from the sometimes harsh realities of life.
So my questions for all of you here ....
#1 - How important do you think it is to read?
#2 - How much do you read?
Like do you read some Everyday? ... Just read every so often? .... Only read when something really catches your eye? .... Hate to read ... Wouldn't be caught dead wasting your time reading?
LmfaoOOOoOoooooo ....
If you are a reader .... What's your favorite kind of thing to read?
Last but not least .....
Are you reading now?
(besides the forum silly)
Do you have a book or something similar that you're caught up in at the moment?
Oh dear dovey...this is a hard one to respond too without making myself appear like a tart...ha ha
I do love to read...i really do and I do most of it while either in the bath or in the bog...hehe
I tend to read things that have basically no plot and the characters all live happily ever after with their prince and princesses...
The reason I read these type of trashy novels is that I get to learn about sex (he he - only joking) ... because they have nothing in relation to the current world I dont have to cope with harsh reality - in that way I switch off from the everyday hussle and bussle and have some quality me time where I dont have to think!
I have read a lot lately as I have been off work for quite some time...but they have all been really good books with stories based on woman who are trying to cope with the daily stresses of life...in a very very funny format...all really good.
I am currently reading a book by Jenny Colgan and it is titled Looking for Andrew McCarthy.. its about a woman who wants the easy puppy love of the 80's back... not the best I have read but still mildly entertaining.
Personally, I LOVE reading. I absolutely love the English language and love writing, whether it’s poetry or short stories (although I have to admit my poems are way better than my short stories!!).
What am I reading at the moment? The Mammoth Book of New Horror 2001, edited by Stephen Jones and Big Brother 4 - Up Close and Personal (UK, 2003). I can read, and have read, up to 3 or 4 books at the same without mixing up the plots or losing pace (I’m a very quick reader) and cannot read the same book twice as I always remember the plot, main characters and most importantly, the ending. My favourite author: horror novelist is and always will be Stephen King. He’s the master!
If I couldn’t read (was illiterate) I would probably wish that I could read but because I can, I read as much as possible. If I don’t have a book to read, at night, for a week or so, I can go crazy, as it is a particular hobby/pastime/activity that I could not live without. I have read 100s of books, maybe more and will undoubtedly read until the end of my days. I really appreciate all the novelists who can write and would like nothing more than to be a published writer/novelist. (I am already a published poet in Ireland and the UK)
I love reading to build up my vocabulary and feel I have a pretty strong vocabulary already (working for a solicitor/lawyer helps too LOL) and am very grateful for my education, most especially to any teacher who has taught me English (grammar, spelling, punctuation, verbs, nouns, tenses etc), including poetry and anything by William Shakespeare. I love reading poems by John Donne, Shakespeare, William Butler Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh and many other poets. Two such poets I was introduced to by an ex-boyfriend are Pablo Neruda and Raymond Carver. We even used to text quotes to each other, our favourite quotes, to tell each other how much we felt about each other. For Valentine’s Day we both wrote poems on the inside of our cards for each other and he once gave me a single rose (and vase). I thought he was so sweet and good to me and he enjoys poetry and English as much as I do. We even used to do crossword puzzles together!
I really enjoy romance novels by many female Irish authors such as Maeve Binchy, Patricia Scanlan, Pauline McLynn, Deirdre Purcell, Cathy Kelly and Marian Keyes.
My favourite horror novelists are Stephen King (of course!), James Herbert and Peter Straub. I also enjoy reading books by Jeffrey Archer, Patricia Cornwell, John Grisham and Anne Rice (Superb!).
OK, Dovie and gang, it’s obvious I have gone on for long enough. I hope I answered all your questions and well done on choosing an excellent topic. I hope there are dozens of replies to it! All the best to every one in the Faery Garden Forum.
Unfortunately, I know me... and if I start a book there is no stopping until it's finished. You'll not see me online or in the kitchen fixing dinner or any other place but on the couch with my fingers glued to the book.
My favorite books are fantasy and romance. The last seriese of books I read were "Merlin's Daughters" (he had 3 you know..all possessing special magic all their own)and they were chalked full of magic mystery fantasy and of course romance.
I have since been handed down a favorite of my grandmother's.. "The Mysts of Avalon"... I havn't actually started reading it yet though. But you'll know when I start..lol.. as I'll not be seen in here again for a while ~winks~
LmfaoOOOoOOooooooo ....
Guess where she Got That Book Char???
~ muttering ~
I have wondered for years what became of it ...
Tooooooo funny!!
It’s Such An Excellent Tale!!!
And based on enough truth that I swear to you “Mists Of Avalon” actually changed my life!!
Bet I’d like “Merlin’s Daughters”
I’ll have to pick that up one day.
And Boo .....
Sheeeesh gurlie ...
There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong those “Romance” tales!!!
Ask Char!!
I don’t think they’ve warped her mind too much ... LOL
And Char ....
I’m like you!!
If I pick up a good story ... it’s nearly painful to put the thing down again until it’s finished!!
~ nodding ~ ... Also ... Romance novels Are honestly Just a great way to sort of escape the day to day grind, relax and just “mentally” get away for a while!!!
Yup Yup Grey .... I agree whole heartedly!!
By the way .. Nice to see you!!!
Hope things are going just as you’d like them to.
You wouldn’t believe what I’m reading right now ....
LOL .... Harry Potter!!!
The Sorcerer's Stone ... first in the series!!!
I’m Love’n It!!!
I totally recommend any of the Harry Potter books to anyone: young or old. I thoroughly enjoyed the first four and am waiting to get my hands on the fifth one. (I've borrowed the 1st four and hoope to do the same with the fifth and buy the whole collection, compiled of 7 novels, when the series is complete).
Charise, I am just the same. Give me a good book and I won't put it down until it's finished, read from cover to cover. That Big Brother book I said I was reading. It consists of 282 pages and I started it on Friday night (the day it arrived in the post: my mother is a member of the Bookclub of Ireland. You know the deal: get catalogues in the post, buy whatever you want and the company sends it out to you in the mail within 2/4 weeks)and I finished it last night. I have often finished books consisting of 500-1100 (IT by Stephen King was over 1100 pages long). And, if you include The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings series by JRR Tolkien and together that is over another 1000 pages more.
I am still reading The Mammoth Book of New Horror. It contains 13/15 short stories so it's easy enough to get through, though I am taking my time to read it (no idea why). I got it, and another volume from the previous year (2000) when I was helping out at a book stall at a local field day back in the summer. I brought home an armful of books for myself as well as selling hundreds of books in the process.
Charise, I totally love the Arthurian myths and the tales of Merlin but I had no idea he had three daughters! Thanks for sharing...
Thanks Dove. I saw this topic and had no choice but to post something, otherwise I would never forgive myself. People are saying nowadays that the form of handwriting (letters mainly) is dying out thanks to mobile/cell phones (texting), computers (programs like MS Word for example) and the Internet (e-mails). I think that's true, even though I still enjoy writing and receving letters (though I do tend to use MS Word to write up all of my letters now) but I hope, truly and sincerely, that reading, as a healthy and learning experience, never dies out. I know there are now e-books and the like but so long as writers keep writing I will keep reading. I own many books and would never think, or dare, sell them or throw them out though (even if I can't re-read a book a second time!). May literary geniuses live on... Forever!
well he gave it to me to read... i er.... looked at it and read first two pages.... and aint read no more.... that count? lol.... its a comic story book... maus i think its called....
LmaoOOOooooo ...
Dear O Dear Gibbly ... tsk tsk tsk ....
Here’s me thinking that I read somewhere that it’s bad karma NOT to read a book given to you by a friend.
For shame gurlie .... best get to reading ....
~ wink ~
Ohhhhhh Char ...
No worries about “Mists Of Avalon” ... it was just a shock to here that you had it after having tried for so long to figure out where it had gotten to.
Funny thing about it is .....
I distinctly recall asking someone’s grandmother where it went ... all I got was that classic “deer caught in the headlights look” ... and a non committal shrug.
I’ll tell ya ... I have long since replaced the book ..
So with sincere wishes Sweetpea .... Tape up the cover ... (LOL) ... and Keep the book!!!
Do Yourself A Favor .... READ IT!!!!
LmaoOOoOooooo@ me Boo mate and our “Arry Potter”
I know of Many Many more adults reading these books then kids even!!!
~ whispers ~
it’s good stuff innit mate???
Yup ...
I’m like that as well.
Can hardly put the really good ones down!!
And because of it ...
I can’t count all the times I’ve worked a full day having had no sleep for the enjoyment of a Great read!!!
Hmmmmmm .....
Interesting what you were saying about the art of hand written letters dying out.
That would be sad indeed but I do see the truth in it.
Very Sad to my way of thinking.
Anyone agree or disagree with this???
Are you getting less / more / same amount of hand written letters in the mail??
Ohhhhh ......
Here’s a question for you ...
When’s the last time you actually received a hand written note/card/letter in the mail????
Well...For me, I think it is if I find interest in the book....However looking back at the asorted reads that I've read, I think I am more of a truth seeker...
For instance, there is an US author by the name of Dave Pelzer...He is a true inspiration. His childhood was terrifying..He was the victim of one of the worst documented child abuses cases in US history...And he survived. He grew up and took his tragedy and hardships and made them work for him. He has earned commendations from US presidets, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. In 1994 he was the only American who received The Out-standing Young Persons of the World award. NEWAY...He is awesome...AND, I strongly reccomend his stories to anyone...Just have a box of tissues handy!
There is another author Dalton Trumbo...He wrote a book called "Johnny got his gun" Tis a bit of a war book, and very very very good....I have read it at least 5 times...Tis my favorite book.
As for poetry....Love all of it...My fav author is
Edna St. Vincent Millay....
I read often...But it has to have an interest for me. I'll read self help parenting books, inspiration books, mysteries, and if I want to learn about something I'll go get a book.....Read it....and then apply that new knowledge to whatever task is at hand that I'm learning...Guess you could call it research books.....
(((((((((Gibbly)))))))) ... yup ... would be a good thing to do.
~ wink ~
If you read what Tom sends your way gurlie ... it gives you added stuff to discuss and debate about.
Who knows ...
It might be something that you would end up really enjoying!!
We’re all going to be waiting for a report Gibz ... Ok???
Ohhhhh Yup Yup Char!!
She writes a novel indeed!!!
I get them quite often and each one’s a treasure to me.
She write me long ol’ novel’s filled with just her thoughts
and such.
I love to read them in the morning ... when I’m having my very first cuppa.
You really should take the time to write something back to her Sweetpea.
Hmmmmm .....
I’m trying to remember the last time I actually wrote anything to anyone.
There’s really only one person that I write to.
I mean .... here on the computer .... I’m writing all the time ... but I have to agree that I believe the fine art of “hand” writing a letter ... is disappearing.
Hmmmmm .......
Well I do understand your thirst for knowledge Casalyn.
And I sincerely think your reading material is admirable!!
Personally ...
I do so much research type reading “on line” for writing projects ...
That when it comes time to just relax ... I NEED something “light” and fanciful.
Right now ....
Harry Potter is doing the trick just nicely!!
I’m curious Casalyn ...
Do you keep journals of notes on what you read???
Very Very good to see you here!!!
I hope that everything is going just the way you want it to!!
Yup ...
Seems most of us have that .... “love to read” ... in common!!
I’m not much of a fan of “horror” though.
And though Steven King is a Genius at what he writes ... it’s too scary for me too enjoy.
King and ... erm ... is it John Saul .... who wrote “Suffer The Children” ???
That was probably the scariest book I ever read!!!!
Eeeeeeeeeks!!!!
Not really my kind of reading!!
~ shivers ~
More serious reading for me includes Bertrand Russell, who is one of my favorite western philosophers ....
And I read everything by “Dante” over and over again!!!
Shakespeare ... The Taming Of The Shrew, Romeo And Juliet ... Julius Caesar ... Macbeth ... and Ohhhhh his Love sonnets!!! ... ~ sighing ~
DH Lawrence ... Bayard Taylor ... George Orwell for his political philosophies ...
Sheeeeeeesh ..... thinking about it here ..... there are just too many Incredible authors out there ... and Uncountable Written Works of Pure Genus!!!
If I had to pick a favorite Grey ....
I don’t honestly think that I could!!!
Well ..... JR Tolkin might be the one that would top my list!!!
But for right now ... in this time and space ....
Colour me Very ‘appy wif me ‘Ary Potter!!!
LOL
a report? OH GAWD!!!!! guessi will have to read em now anyways.... coz i got nowt to do after TOMS CAR BROKE DOWN he cant come up here this weekend... mind you.... i would say.... i told ya so to him... but i wont... lol huggles for all
Glad you approve of some of the authors I read... Yours seem far more extensive than mine even!! LOL
I meant to add that I last received a hand-written letter (two of them, actually) in the last two weeks. I sent out about 12 or 13 back in July and only got two replies within two or three months. These letters were hand-written! Like I said, I use the computer at home for almost everything now and yet an odd reply has been typed up and printed off a computer compared to being hand-written.
If it wasn't for the ease and speed of a computer, I would still probably be hand writing my letters. I sent a few birthday cards off recently and because I wanted to include a short letter to the receipient I wrote up a one-page letter on the computer, printed them up and sent them off with the cards. Very quick and efficient.
I will say goodbye now Dove. It's good to be back in the Garden and contributing to such a great topic as literature and writing. If I had more time and the inclination, I would probably reply to more of the treads...
All is well in my life, thank you Dove. I will be working full-time FOUR full months at the end of next week. I am taking one week the following week to house-sit (although my youngest brother and father will only be going to work!) because my mother is going away on holiday and if I don't stay at home the house or the dog won't be minded and no jobs/chores will get done and I know I couldn't do a full day's work and come home to face a sloppy house cos my brother and father wouldn't lift a finger!!
I am currently reading... slowly i might add....
Harry potter book 5 order of the phoenix... I have read all the books so far and am so involved with arry's adventures that i have become somewhat of a potter nerd *puts on boo's glasses to prove it* fab books too dam good that every adult in the world should read them now... doc xx
((((((cockney dove)))))) I must say your cockney accent is coming along great he he..I am teaching boo the fine art of dropping h's here and there, you should hear her go... "ohh i urt me ead" "look at my ouse" she even calls me oi bloke ha ha.. And boo shopping at my local market for fruit and veg is a picture...get yer salad tamarta 4 pand a pand lol her look of "what the kinhell did he say?" is so sweet..
OK i went way off the beaten track there..ok other books i like to read, when royal mails not killing me that is...I have tried and tried hard to read lord of the rings, but i just can't get into it, i find it very difficult to read for some reason, and i can read the hard books with the best of them, i'll get there one day but for now it's on the backburner for a bit...
I am a big fan of horror books, i love to read any shaun hutson books *sheesh that man has a strange imagination, but i love it* also most books by clive barker, till he went a bit funny and started writing huge books arghhhh... I am not a person that will pick any old book up and read it i'm afraid...
Hope that enlightens you dove? I'm off for a looky over at the new site excited
I haven't read Shaun Hutson or Clive Barker yet, but I intend to. Like you with The Lord of The Rings, they are on the back-burner for me!
If you can read Harry Potter and like them, even enjoy the fantasy and the personalities of the characters, you are about a quarter of the way (already) to reading Lord Of The Rings.
OK, it may be a bit long and a bit hard but they will be the worth the effort, that I can promise. I've seen the movie: The Fellowship of The Ring but hope to see The Two Towers on video soon, before The Return of The King comes out in cinemas (here (Ireland), UK, USA) in the run up to Christmas.
Quick note to Dove & Char:
I've seen the new site and I like it but I kinda got used to this place looks sorrowful I will post there soon, I promise. Just a quick question, can I use the same nicknames and passwords that I use in here too?? I hope I can... Please say I can!! *pleading kindly to Dove & Char*
~Dove's World Wide Clock~
All the best to every one in the Faery Garden Forum.
