Still reading books…..

Life Style, Motivational, Sadje's View, You Asked

This week Fandango asks;

In the days before the internet, before WordPress, before Facebook and Twitter and TikTok and YouTube and binge-watching on Netflix; in the days before having the world at you fingertips with newsfeeds on mobile phones, before…well you get my drift…I used to devour between three and five books a week. Mostly novels.

With all of the distractions mentioned above, do you read books as much nowadays as you used to ten, twenty, or thirty years ago? Why or why not?

➰➰➰

Let’s not go back not 20 or 30 years ago but only about 4-5 years. Before I started my blog, I was still reading a few books a month.

If I don’t find a new author, I’d re-read old favorites. Books have become quite expensive these days so I’d buy from old books stores or borrow from my aunt. She’s also very fond of reading.

My issue, as I see it that I like to read books from authors I know. Spending money on a book by a new author and then not liking it is a waste and I don’t want to do that. When my daughter gifted me kindle, it became easier to buy books that aren’t available in the stores here. I found a new writer, Louise Penny which was recommended by my daughter, and loved her books. I also found new writers via recommendations from my WordPress friends, some written by them like Paula, Jeff, Mason and Mich.

When I started blogging, my time for reading books was cut down. Now I only can manage one or two books a month. Some months not even that. There are a few half read books on my kindle that are making me guilty as I haven’t finished them yet. Marilyn’s 12 foot teepee and Ritu’s marriage unarranged are among them.

Reading books is great, but so is reading blogs. So I spent my time reading the blogs I follow. And of course writing my own posts too. But I do need to go back to reading more books.

➰➰➰

Written in response to FPQ # 191, hosted by Fandango

#Keepitalive

#FPQ

Published by Sadje

I am writing to express my opinion, share my experiences and to maybe provide some insight. My blog is addressing women at 50 ( but men are welcome to read my posts) ,their issues and the questions that come up at this stage in life. I don’t aim to teach, but to learn together.

Published

57 thoughts on “Still reading books…..”

  4. Not having time to read was one of the several reasons I cut down on my blogging hours. I felt like I was not having a full life. I love reading blogs and I even like reading (some) news — but I need to feed my mind with more than that. I need to submerge in a different world. Finding myself unable to do that was simply unacceptable.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. I can relate to what Marilyn writes. I don’t have a lot of time these days even my own writing schedule has taken a battering with the five main projects l have on the burner. I read what l can and when l can. Blogs are okay and l read forty odd blogs a week and 120 posts a week. I used to read 12 books a month in 2019, then in 2020 it cut down to 5 a month, the following year 2 a month and now none a month.

    I need more stimulation now to even reading and come the evening when l am not reading blogs outside of WP which numbers maybe 15 additional long content articles a week l prefer to watch something.

    I have fifty books in my Kindle that still need reading, but l just don’t have the time or even the eye energy.

    Like

    Reply

  10. As I am two years into blogging, I spend an hour or two each evening reading, commenting, and making notes of what I find interesting in fellow bloggers’ posts. I have always read for an hour, two, or more every night and continue to do so. We have a two-storied library full of lovely books just a stone’s throw away. So, I am spoilt for a choice! Although I don’t belong to a book club, some of my friends do. So they always give me their book list that introduces me to several genres and new authors.
    Happy reading, Sadje.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Do you have access to Libby? I know it needs a library card # from a physical library, but once you have that, you can read books on your device from home. Offline or on. I don’t know much about how what countries Libby is available in or not, but it’s a discovery I made early in the pandemic. (It’s got a related app called Overdrive that might be worth looking into.) …There’s also another online library I contemplated using for a while… It had ebooks from all over the world that you could access, if an ebook version existed. I can’t remember what it’s called though. I stumbled across it online when I was looking up a book I couldn’t find elsewhere. I don’t think it required a physical library card. Maybe other people who read this will be more connected/have a better memory than I do?

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  13. the image captured me, Sadje. i do read books but not as much as before, too. i haven’t even finished reading this one book that i really like 😊. audiobooks are also gifts from God. and great suggestion with the Kindle.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Thoughtful post, my friend. Love the picture.

    I think I might read more books now that I’m blogging. For one thing, I’m not working. However, I do read more blogs than books. I have more trouble finishing books. I no longer write reviews of the books I read, which I did for years, just to keep track of the books I do read. That seems a little too time intensive for me.

    I have hundreds of books in my book cases that make me feel guilty because I’m not reading them. Many are professional or about historic times and are non-fiction. I can’t seem to make myself read them – for example during the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, I traveled to several battlefields on the east coast of the US. I picked up lots of books as I traveled and even more when I got home. I read some of them completely, but now, I don’t touch them. The same is true of other topics in history when I was planning events, I read them. I can’t bring myself to get rid of them, but I’m lugging them from home to home, and I’m wondering if that is very wise!

    I love my Kindle for fiction but not for nonfiction. I do highlight some in my books – both Kindle and paper. I rarely write in a hardbound edition.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’ve analyzed this problem and I think the reason I read blogs more than books is that in blogging we get instant responses. It’s like chatting with friends. Whereas reading is mostly a solo activity. Giving away books is a very hard decision.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Giving away books is very hard! Even if I never read them and they take up space. My mother kept about 1,300 paperback romances all her life, moving them from place to place as she got older and had to downsize. Those books never left. It took me YEARS before I could bear to part with them.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  17. I have been reading a lot less than I used to… between blogging taking up time and my fibro fog that makes it a little harder to follow stories from one night to the next, I really need to find more time to read. But a friend recently recommended a book so I am giving it a try… I have started chapter 2 now.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.