Still have the Joy of Reading?
Do you still get the same charge you used to from recreational reading? As a writer, I know what I’d like the answer to be; but in this modern age of hypercondensed messaging, does anyone take the time to enjoy a good novel these days?
I think the answer depends on which generation you were born into. You know what I’m getting at? The younger you are, the less likely you’ll pick up the 1,200-page War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
But in the interest of full disclosure: I never read it, either. I have no desire to. And I’ve recently admitted to myself that I’m not young anymore. Not admitting to being old, just not young.
However, I have enjoyed some lengthy classics, such as
- The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov
- Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
- Ghosts of Forgotten Empires I and II by Michael J. Foy
What? How did that last one get in there?
But even with my generation’s level of patience, I’ve become fond of reading short stories in collections or anthologies.
Because of a phase I’m going through for all things noir, I recently purchased a collection of 25 short stories about hard-boiled detectives. I’m normally reluctant to buy books on a whim, but the low, low price of 46 cents proved irresistible — and let me tell you, it’d be a bargain at twice the price. I’m loving these stories, and they average less than 20 pages.
Short stories require less of a commitment than novels, and it’s easier to remember characters and situations. For lengthy novels that you don’t read every day, you can lose track of those things.
Also regarding modern novels, I find them less and less interesting to me than older works – especially in science fiction, which is my favorite genre. Is that my inner curmudgeon coming out? I liked the classics better.
That’s what really prompted my original question:
Do you still get the same charge that you used to from recreational reading?
I’d love to get your thoughts.
The End
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Mike,
I still get a great deal of enjoyment from reading – recreational or … is there any other type? Reading the changes to the IRS Code is still engaging. Reading a specification for an engineering project is still … well, as long as it isn’t boiler plate from a government contractor, is still engaging.
Disregarding the things I choose to read for my gainful employment, I still pick up hardbound books (mostly at the Dollar Tree) to read, then I pass them on to my neighbors, and they end up at a cancer center for the patients to take and read. I enjoy novellas on my Kindle (sci-fi, fantasy), but also purchase longer series of books.
I, too, have never read Tolstoy.
But, I have read the Odyssey.
The Odyssey? If it’s A Space Odyssey I read it too. 🙂