I enjoy reading books about books, reading and publishing. I am reading "The Solitary Vice: Against Reading" (Counterpoint, 2008) by Mikita Brottman. She is a literature professor at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore and is a practicing psychotherapist. In the book's title, "the solitary vice" is a Victorian euphemism for masturbation. In this book, it refers to reading. She uses the comparison between the two to make her primary point.
"Like the other well-known solitary vice, reading is ultimately not an act of pleasure but a tool for self-exploration."
The reading she discusses here is the addictive kind of reading some of us share.
Here are 11 questions she posed to 56 readers for one of her chapters. My answers to the questions led me to realized some interesting facts about my own reading.
1. What book are you reading now?
2. How do you decide what book to read next?
3. Do you always finish books, or do you give up on them? If you give up, how many pages does it usually take?
4. Do you generally separate your reading into "work" and "fun"?
5. Do you ever reread books you love? Please give examples.
6. Can you read books in noisy places?
7. Can you remember if a book has ever made you laugh out loud, or shed tears? Give some examples.
8. Where do you buy most of your books? How much do you spend each year on books? Or do you use the library primarily? Bookstore or online?
9. Do you use bookmarks, or dog-ear the pages of your books? Do you make marginal notes? If so, do you use pencil or pen?
10. How quickly do you read? Do you skim through pages at top speed, or do you stop to savor the sentences along the way?
11. Where, and when, do you do your best reading?
I'm not taking a survey or looking for your answers here in the blog. The questions raised some interesting observations about my own habit.
I bought this book ($14.95 paperback) at Vertigo bookstore in College Park. Vertigo is one of the last, great independent bookstores in the Washington area. The book was face-out in the front of the store.
Fox
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7 comments:
Have you read "For the Love of Books: Celebrated writers on the books they love most" by Ronald B. Shwartz? Very enjoyable. Among the 115 authors he includes are john barth, john irving, doris lessing, david lodge, reynolds price, carol shields, oliver stone, kurt vonnegut, and wendy wasserstein.
I worry sometimes that I love books too much. Not reading, but books. I spend more time looking at, buying, browsing through, reshelving, recommending, reading about, and talking about books than I actually do reading them.
What do you guys think of Kindle the out-of-stock Amazon reading device? I'm skeptical about this "sold out" business and suspect a marketing ploy. Hard to believe they couldn't get more manufactured in China in a nanosecond. Or is that being too cynical?
Pam
In my previous post about "The Solitary Vice", I meant to add that while I found the book face-out at Vertigo, it would probably be available only as a special order through B&N or Borders.
I have not read that book but I will now that you have revealed it to me.
As for books, my entire career has been about books. I've been in the book business since 1970. I have never, ever considered another occupation.
There's the story and there's the book. I have a need to possess books even if I don't read them. I figure I finish 70% of the books I buy and start. The other 30% go up onto the shelves as I think that maybe I will read them in the future. But by the time the future is here, I've added more books to the 30% pile. I carry a book with me at all times, even if I am gong someplace where I know I won't have any opportunity to read.
Stroud has a pile of at least 200 books on the floor by her bed that she has bought but not read yet. I'm not quite that bad but it does make her one of my heroes in the reading world. Actually, how would you all feel if I invited her to join the club?
As for the Kindle, I cannot believe it is out-of-stock. If that has happened, it's because Bezos only made 100 units and now needs 10 more to fulfill back orders.
The iPhone and iPod Touch platform is going to dominate digital reading in the very near future. While the screen is smaller, the quality of the text is astonishing. Since the device has internet access, you will be able to buy or rent books on the fly just like the Kindle. I bought my iPod Touch (8G) for $248. Besides being a very good platform for reading, it also has wireless internet, photo albums, is an MP3 player, calendar, has a phone book integrated into email and will have a plethora of 3rd party applications very soon. I am looking forward to ereader.com having their reader available. I get there books al the time for my other PDA which is a stinky reader. The Kindle costs $400 and can only be used as a reader. You can buy the 16G iPod Touch for $400.
I could go on-and-on. I won't.
Fox
I say "yes, of course" to SStroud joining us. Not sure what, exactly, she's joining but maybe she'll help us figure it out.
Pam
I think the club has multiple agendas:
1. Reading and discussing the book
2. Keeping in touch
3. Sharing an obsession
4. What ever else one would want it to be
Pam, you've created something that is becoming part of my life. At our age, new shit is rare. Thanks
Fox
I absolutely agree about Stroud joining. I saw her in Jeru about 18 mos ago. As for the agenda. That's the thing about anything Web-based. It's dynamic. It can start as one thing and evolve into something else. IMO all four of Larry's points are correct. If we want to add something else, we can.
And while I'm at it, Pam you have definitely created something that I'm enjoying. Something was missing last week when no one posted.
Forgot to sign. The last comment was mine.
Ed
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