Reading can be very enjoyable. Science Fiction stories are a blast. I can sprint through these. Some heavy reading can sometime weigh heavy on me; I have to slow down to a walk. I enjoy reading after work about 20:00 for about an hour or two. Weekends four hours on Sat and sometimes a bit more on Sun depending on what I read. My friends are regular bookworms and seem to get through four books a week. So been thinking how do people get so much reading in? How do you get it all in.
since i dont have DSTV, i usually end up in bed at 9, with a book, so then I will read till i nod off. a regular sized book will take me two weeks odd. i have other stuff to do as well, and often end up playing pc games on my laptop instead.
my other half and i, and up lying by the pool on sundays reading, it’s the best. we are both bookish, and i often end up chasing him to finish a book, so i can read it. when i go to visit him, we end up reading in bed as well.
i like scifi, fantasy, autobiographies… no romance, drama,thriller bollocks. and no mills&boon. ever.
I can plough through 3 - 4 novels in a weekend, but then I ignore everybody and the family dont eat. I read almost constantly, and I read at least 3 books at a time, I generally have a “lounge” book, a “kitchen” book and a “in the bed” book going at any one time. The bedroom book is generally the more “chewy” stuff whereas the others are “easy” reads - I got Pratchett’s new one on Saturday, and its a lounge book.
I read whilst cooking, and when the family is playing WOW on the computer, I read a book. In the bath, on the loo, in the car. THe only place I dont drag a book along with me is to work.
Gods no, and the first place assistants in a bookstore want to guide me to is those shelves, I get the horries, the last time I read a mills and boons I was in Std 7 in the Maths class and the teacher tore the book up. (It explains the 27% I got for the bloody subject that year as well). As I age, my taste in books have matured and lately I want “thinking” books, what I call “chewy”, some of them takes me near forever to read and my S/O generally gets hammered with questions (he’s more clever than I and can explain sciency stuff very well), I often re-read these books too in order to understand it better too. I enjoy encyclopedias as well, random fact books are great time-fillers and good for general knowledge to boot too.
I struggle to read fiction. When I was in school I would read technical literature to get at information. On a rare occasion would I pick up a piece of fiction. And I’m like this today still. I’ve found a couple of tomes of awesomeness that I managed to finish during my adult life. But for me reading is extremely taxing and tiring. I’m one to start reading, get through a couple of chapters, then start tearing at the eyes in extreme boredom and put the book down to do something more interesting. This includes those books I found SO gripping that I could actually finish them. Usually new fiction gets dragged along on holiday, where I can read a bit, sleep a bit, read a bit, sleep a bit. Only being a holiday past time though, thick faire like “The reality dysfunction” literally took me years (multiple vacations) to get through. It’s not that I’m a slow reader generally either, but I am one to try and absorb as much out of every line as possible, so I take it slow and often re-read a sentence to make sure I picked up all the details.
However, since my diagnosis and treatment for ADD, I haven’t picked up a book yet. I may yet surprise myself once I do.
I have 5 GB of e-books that the InterWebs bestowed on me.
I also have a iRiver (like a kindle but Korean made) and an android phone.
At home I read on the iRiver (while game loads) and for the rest, toilet, in the lift, in any queue, in traffic, I read on my phone. 
So yes. I have gone e in a big way.
I still prefer the dead tree formats. The problem with them is that they are heavy, especially the hard covers. I’m reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Its 1474 pages weigh in at about 4 or 5 kilos–not the sort of thing you can hold for long in one hand.
I did and probably still do (I can browse for literally hours in a bookshop) but my life has become easier since embracing the technology. The wife shops? Do I get impatient and it all ends badly for me? No, I simply stand by the trollie and read. A little self conscious at first, but man did I get over that quickly. 
I read at least 3 books at a time, I generally have a "lounge" book, a "kitchen" book and a "in the bed" book going at any one time.
This is something I only learned this year. Often there are places in a book where it becomes a bit tedious. Putting one down and reading further on another helps so much. In the past I kept hitting my head against the idea that once you start a book you have to read that one through until the end before staring another.
more "chewy" stuff whereas the others are "easy" reads
I like this term “chewy” describes them thinking books to a T.
also have a iRiver (like a kindle but Korean made) and an android phone.
I myself have been thinking of buying an e reader. I hear kindle is the best but there seems to be so many choices and options with e readers and I cannot figure which one is the best. Anyone ideas on how to settle on an option?
I can browse for literally hours in a bookshop
I love browsing bookshops. The staff at Bargain Books and Exclusive Books know me very well. I am like family.
exclusive books at sandton (the nice big one with the coffee shop), is a regular stop on the weekends. i start off with the graphic novels, then work my way towards scifi/fantasy, and then inevitably go to the photograpy section.
people who don’t read, are robbign themselves of a millions doors to open.
I’m no expert but I’d suggest one able to read a wide variety of formats. Most importantly .epub - in my opinion the best format. I wouldn’t want to steer anyone in any one direction so I’d suggest reading up on all of these and reading user reviews. And obviously go test one or two. The iRiver is touch screen, which is a must have imo. (I think the newest kindle is also now touch screen - it is just awesome for changing pages - just a swipe of the finger)
I use calibre, a great free library tool which allows connections to a wide variety of e-readers as well as simple direct connection if all else fails. I have about 3000 books that I am carefully adding covers [by simply clicking on update cover and it finds it on the Net] and fixing titles and author details (not necessary at all, one can simply start reading, but I am ocd that way - even if only self diagnosed) and it makes life so much easier.
I heartily recommend going e to any avid reader. I won’t do away with my paper books and may occasionally still buy one just saying it sure makes for awesome reading.
but what will i put on my shelves then, to make my non-geeky friends feel like uncivilzed yobs?
I suspect your uncivilized yob friends are too uncouth to notice either way?
I’ve got a 2nd generation kindle and it is by far the best piece of technology for its price. The 3g kindle is great, you hear about a good book, 5 min later your reading it. I think that is the advantage of the kindle over most other e readers is the content and ease of access to it you get from Amazon. Most formats can be emailed to your amazon account email and is automatically converted and mailed backed to you.
Seems like everybody is raving about kindle.
Where is the best place to buy it.
Should I import through Amazon and is there any import duties.
I have seen some South African sites sell it but not sure if it is cheaper to import.
I got mine straight from amazon, cheapest if you take the long time delivery option. They actually gave me $20 back because there was a price drop 3 weeks after I got mine, just for that go amazon.
I totally do not get the kindle thing - I love the feel and smell of books and trawling through second hand book shops and finding random ones when travelling and then leaving them for someone else to find somewhere else like some weird circle I guess - Can’t imagine ever liking touch-screen books. I know the whole saving resources etc… But then I also tend to shun anything popular for at least 5 years and then find out it’s awesome - like Harry Potter (eeek don’t judge) and probably Twilight in about 2015…
Also Amazon already have a development centre in Cape Town as my other half works for them so it’s only a matter of time before there is an amazon.co.za plus you can sell your second hand books back and buy ones read once for about R15
I also have a 3G Kindle. But I still tend to go into Exclusive Books and buy something there. But it is great to get a book that you can never find very quickly on the Kindle, either directly through Amazon or through other means.
One thing about the new Kindle Touch, it’s apparently horrible. Rather get the non-touch one, or you can still get the keyboard one.
Oh, does anyone still go to the library? I’m just not reading 8 books in two weeks anymore, hell, sometimes it’s two months, so it’s more convenient to just get a book through some other means.
Here the budget for stock in the library hardly covers a few news papers and periodicals. New books are not seen there too often.
I used an iRiver reader that was very good but not used once I bought my iPad. I have a substantial library on the iPad which allows me to swap from light reading to the more substantial or visa versa. Glare is a problem when reading outside but that is where the reader comes out!