Books

[Eoin McLove]

Nice. I'll give them a look, cheers 

[Necro Red]

Nearly finished Day Of The Triffids which is a decent read. Seems like one of those books that's on lists of best Sci-fi novels. On to the Obituary biography next which I'm really looking forward to getting through

[Eoin McLove]

I read Day off the Triffids recently. It was entertaining but kind of silly, I felt. Still well written despite the silliness of the triffids.

[Trev]

One of my mates looking for recommendations for decent fantasy for their 10 year old outside of Harry Potter? Suggested the Terry Pratchett kids books to her but outside of that I'm drawing a blank

[Carnage]

Eoin Colfer and the Artemis Fowler books would be my suggestion, my sisters (who were big Harry Potter fans) loved them. Also Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

[Necro Red]

I read Day off the Triffids recently. It was entertaining but kind of silly, I felt. Still well written despite the silliness of the triffids.

I get what you mean by silly, it really is a product of its time

[StoutAndAle]

Finished "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" a week or so ago. Very much enjoyed it. Nice to have it expand on the film and explain some parts of it in more detail.

Currently flicking through the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly Irish Times articles book. Always fun. A brain sorbet.

I have a stack of books to read but no real inclination towards any of them. Found myself looking at books on Amazon earlier. I must be out of my mind - I have at least 30 new books at home waiting to be read.

Anyone else ever get like that?

[Carnage]

I'd say I'm on around 150 unread books scattered around the place by now. I regularly go through phases where I can't get it together to sit and read for any length of time, so they just pile up. I've been reading this one for months now, but seldom manage more than 10 pages in a sitting. It'll pass.

[StoutAndAle]

I'd say I'm on around 150 unread books scattered around the place by now. I regularly go through phases where I can't get it together to sit and read for any length of time, so they just pile up. I've been reading this one for months now, but seldom manage more than 10 pages in a sitting. It'll pass.

I think this was discussed before in this thread but I'll repeat it;

Since I got a smartphone - my attention span has gone to the wall. Years ago, I could read dozens of pages in a sitting and finish a book rapidly. These days, I find myself doing 10 pages (or so) and putting the book down. 

One really odd thing that I've started doing in the last few years (in terms of reading) is flicking to the end of the book to see how many pages are in it.

Either that or on Kindle looking at the % remaining stat way too often.

[ochoill]

I'd say I'm on around 150 unread books scattered around the place by now. I regularly go through phases where I can't get it together to sit and read for any length of time, so they just pile up. I've been reading this one for months now, but seldom manage more than 10 pages in a sitting. It'll pass.

I think this was discussed before in this thread but I'll repeat it;

Since I got a smartphone - my attention span has gone to the wall. Years ago, I could read dozens of pages in a sitting and finish a book rapidly. These days, I find myself doing 10 pages (or so) and putting the book down. 

One really odd thing that I've started doing in the last few years (in terms of reading) is flicking to the end of the book to see how many pages are in it.

Either that or on Kindle looking at the % remaining stat way too often.

I'm the same, could blast a book in a few days if it was a couple hundred pages.  Used to do one every fortnight or so, not a heap by any means but it varied and was fine.  Now?  Jesus I'd be lucky to read three books a year, not that it stops me buying them.  When I am reading I find it tough to get nore than 10-15 pages in a go, have to speak some parts out to get my head right on them, don't have the focus for it.  I don't have much of a problem with reading otherwise though, as proven by absolutely chewing back long articles, wiki entries, group posts, reviews and forum threads online.  Just books are gone difficult.

That said I got through Manufacturing Consent on my holidays and enjoyed it.  Must force myself to start another one of the backlog on my shelf to see can I make a dent in it.

[StoutAndAle]

I'm the same, could blast a book in a few days if it was a couple hundred pages.  Used to do one every fortnight or so, not a heap by any means but it varied and was fine.  Now?  Jesus I'd be lucky to read three books a year, not that it stops me buying them.  When I am reading I find it tough to get nore than 10-15 pages in a go, have to speak some parts out to get my head right on them, don't have the focus for it.  I don't have much of a problem with reading otherwise though, as proven by absolutely chewing back long articles, wiki entries, group posts, reviews and forum threads online.  Just books are gone difficult.

That said I got through Manufacturing Consent on my holidays and enjoyed it.  Must force myself to start another one of the backlog on my shelf to see can I make a dent in it.

Perhaps it's because when we read threads and group posts they involve people that we know.

Far more entertaining to read about one of your friends who shit his suit trousers on the bus from Dublin to his in-laws house in Portmarnock on a random weekday than... I dunno... Dracula's carry on.

[Necro Red]

Been on a biography buzz the last while reading the Obituary biography Turned Inside Out, Rust In Peace bio and halfway through the Maiden one now. All quite good, maiden one is the most in depth I find. Mick Wall is fairly meticulous with his research

[Carnage]

Since I got a smartphone - my attention span has gone to the wall. Years ago, I could read dozens of pages in a sitting and finish a book rapidly. These days, I find myself doing 10 pages (or so) and putting the book down. 

One really odd thing that I've started doing in the last few years (in terms of reading) is flicking to the end of the book to see how many pages are in it.

I'm guilty of that too, just in the last few years. An odd one.

As for the smartphone thing, there's definitely something in that. At one point I was a voracious reader - when I worked nights as a security guard in a warehouse, I'd read a 300-400 page book a night - but in the last 10 years or so that's slowed down considerably. Attention span is definitely fucked, and it's probably a symptom of the bitesize nature of online/digital 'culture' (for want of a better word) seeping into the real world. Annoying.

That being said, I've just sat and read 40+ pages but, of course, now I have the phone in my hand again.

[Thorn]

Ah it can be a cunt alright but I have disciplined myself in to reading 50 pages per day and a 100 on my days off and I'm pretty OCD about it now, I will literally tell the woman I haven't even got my book done yet and disappear into the cave, get an album on and plonk myself down, phone doesn't even come with me.

[Eoin McLove]

A couple of purchases today...

Richard 'Adolf' Dawkins- The River Out of Eden.
T. S. Eliot- The Wasteland and other poems.