Comments on: Guest Post: Tansy Rayner Roberts on Reading as a Luxury

By: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Tansy Rayner Roberts — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:53:07 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love the convenience of e-books. And I have lots of them uploaded on my iPod – so nice to not have to fit a paperback into my handbag ever again (though of course I will). But it’s not my preferred option, and even when for instance I have a free review electronic copy, if it’s really marvellous I want to own it in paper form too.

I have so little reading time anyway, having something non electronic is a nice rest for my brain.

By: Carl V.

Carl V. — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:39:50 +0000

What a wonderful post! Your description of actual tangible books and their sentimental value is one of the main reasons I rail against the ebook format. I am currently reading an upcoming short story collection online and although I am really enjoying the stories I find myself turning longingly towards the actual solid, hold-in-my-hand books that are scattered all over the house waiting for me to read.

By: SF Signal

SF Signal — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:33:21 +0000

SF Tidbits for 2/5/10…

Interviews/ProfilesThe Long Write interviews Sean Williams.J. Robert King profiles Ed Greenwood.SciFi Bookshelf interviews Jeffrey A. Carver.Hero Complex on Philip K. Dick, The Last Decade.NewsSimon Drax is serializing an online novel, Doomtroopers.Nig…

By: Krystle Shore

Krystle Shore — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:57:45 +0000

This is so true. Working at a library, surrounded by books I have on a wish list a couple of miles long and wish I could read, with stacks I have to climb over to get to bed at home still unread, reading has become a luxury. I heartily agree with this statement.

By: rockinlibrarian

rockinlibrarian — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:33:17 +0000

Breastfeeding time is the only time I get to read too– make the best of it! Use pillows to prop up bigger books, so you can read whatever it is you really want to read! Of course, then the baby’s done and you want to keep going, but hey, surely you can at least finish the chapter you’re on, right? And then, whoops, I accidentally read the first sentence of the next chapter, now I need to finish this one… and there goes big brother pushing little sister off the couch…. You’re right. I’ve squeezed in a lot of reading using the nursing-then-finishing-chapter method, but it’s still not the same. I should stop reading blogs of the small-child-less– I hate them for their reading marathons…

By: Kaia

Kaia — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:29:01 +0000

It’s not for nothing that I’ve dubbed Tansy my Book Fairy. Just saying.

By: bookwormchris

bookwormchris — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:04:08 +0000

Oh yes. I don’t have a bookshelf here, so most of my books are in my desk (not much else in the desk) and the rest are stacked next to the desk. I had something like a dozen books to be read, and then I bought a bunch. Sigh.

I try to get in a pleasure book every week or so, beyond the several others I read for class.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:17:21 +0000

I very much resemble some of this, although as my eldest is nearing 12, my too-read pile has morphed from the small pile it was when I had pre-schoolers to a bookshelf that takes up an entire wall in the back room (paperbacks) plus a double stacked 6′*3′ bookshelf (hardbacks). I dream of time to go into the back room and not coming out except for basic health/survival needs, which probably doesn’t include chocolate!

By: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Tansy Rayner Roberts — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:52:44 +0000

Gary: I think you’ll find that ebooks are the solution to that particular problem! I also do a nightly vigil and I have daughterly permission to read from my laptop or iPod.

Sarah: Heh that might be worthy of a blog post all on its own. I have already attempted to explain the Wuthering Heights love (http://tansyrr.com/tansywp/that-little-savage-is-lost-and-it-was-her-that-i-loved/) but I think I may need to think harder upon the Jane Eyre hate before I come up with something more profound than “I wanted to slap her.” After all, the same could be said for Catherine Earnshaw, but in WH it’s a feature, not a flaw.

Heather: Ha, you should see my book lists. My to-read shelf mocks them.

By: Sally

Sally — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:26:40 +0000

Can’t you just make time? If you really want to read you shold read. That’s what I do now. Less time online euqals more time reading.

By: HeatherL

HeatherL — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:11:08 +0000

You hit it exactly. I was reading your post and (metaphorically) nodding my head appreciatively. And I love your use of parenthesis- I can see you’ve read Terry Pratchett, you use them like he uses footnotes.

My to-read shelf is both a list in my head and scattered around random bookstores that I stepped into and picked up a random book (which I never finished). Oh books, I miss you. Too many scholarly articles lately- interesting, but not the same.

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:04:33 +0000

Trent: My “to-read” shelf has also become utterly unmanageable- stacks in front of stacks with paperbacks jammed into the spaces on top- never mind those books on my nightstand, window sill, and piled in front of the stereo I never use because I’m always sitting in front of my laptop with itunes opened. And I, like you, blame my minimum wage bookstore gig. The 35% discount can’t be beat, and I just can’t watch all those wonderful books hit the shelves every day without taking a few (dozen) home with me. It’s a real problem.

And Tansy, I so relate to the romantic attachment to books as objects. I just can’t interact with ereaders the same way I do with books. I realize that the same text can be contained in a Kindle/nook/ipad, etc. etc., but part of the romance is that the text of, say, Lowry’s The Giver has its own unique home inside the same binding I cracked for the first time in sixth grade. It is its own self-contained entity, not only as a textual work, but as an object (as opposed to a file that one may or may not choose to access through white a piece of plastic with a hard drive and a wireless connection).
Incidentally, I, around the same age, also discovered a green hard-back antique copy of Jane Eyre, illustrated with reprints of wood etchings. And I keep meaning to get around to it…

By: Sarah Rees Brennan

Sarah Rees Brennan — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:40:37 +0000

*looks proudly at almost nonexistent to-be-read pile*

*looks in dismay at to-be-lived life*

Oh well, fair trade! I want to hear more about this disliking Jane Eyre but liking Wuthering Heights business though…

By: Gary Kemble

Gary Kemble — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:34:13 +0000

I have had an awesome year this year. World War Z, by Max Brooks. The Strain, by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro. Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry. AND the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I’m now reading Horns, by Joe Hill.

The trade-off has been less writing time. And given that I’m now cranking up my writing, I suspect I may have to cut back on the reading.

Until recently the kids have required us to sit in their room while we get them off to sleep. At one point I was seriously considering buying night vision goggles so I could read while they went to sleep!

But maybe a small book light would achieve the same. (And possibly not freak out the kids as much)

By: Paige

Paige — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:01:41 +0000

My to-read shelf is actually a neat stack of books beside my bed that is currently serving as a nightstand.

And now it’s calling me. Off to read!

…After vlogbrothers.

By: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Tansy Rayner Roberts — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:30:30 +0000

Hey Trent!

I re-organised my to read shelf a few months back and it somehow turned into two shelves. They are very long. Okay, it’s an entire bookcase.

Basically it’s a ‘to read’ shelf and an ‘archived to read’ shelf. Which consists of books that have been there three years or more.

I think it’s very important that I never work in a bookshop.

By: Trent Jamieson

Trent Jamieson — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:09:40 +0000

That’s exactly how I feel, Tansy. I don’t know how my too read shelf became so big! And it doesn’t help working in a bookstore.