(Why) Have we stopped reading fiction ?

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I just watched that one. As much as I like the idea of being some sort of reading athlete I'm not touching anything that might make me sick, I'll stick to regular food. Unfortunately I loathe healthy food. My sleeping pattern has been awful since last December.

His quote about there being only 3 good reading hours in a day did interest me, because ideally I'd be reading for a few more.

[ToALonelyPeace]

Maybe this is the age where you've to manage your pleasure like you manage your work, but I was irked by his use of such words as "optimize" , "biohack" and "streamline". His 6 tips:

Quote

1. Stabilize Properly 2. Schedule 3. Biohacks 4. Sleep 5. Find Your Time 6. Streamline

[qcrisp]

Quote Originally Posted by ToALonelyPeace

Maybe this is the age where you've to manage your pleasure like you manage your work, but I was irked by his use of such words as "optimize" , "biohack" and "streamline". His 6 tips: Quote 1. Stabilize Properly 2. Schedule 3. Biohacks 4. Sleep 5. Find Your Time 6. Streamline

Yes, I agree. I generally read as an alternative to such things. Not to finding time (and I think strategies can be helpful when you are struggling to find time to read), but I'm not interested in biohacks (I've rather gone off gore as I've got older) and the language of optimisation can be far too close to time and motion studies and ideas of employee productivity.

[gveranon]

I've discovered that reading a book calms my anxiety, at least to some extent, whereas web-surfing does not. The book must be rich enough to engage my attention--and difficult, challenging books actually help rather than hinder this calming effect! Perhaps reading one thing (as opposed to hyperactively clicking through many things), simply distracts me from my own anxious thoughts and enables me to relax. But I'm inclined to see more in it. Maybe Schopenhauer was right: aesthetic contemplation suspends the will and the suffering associated with the will. I imagine that Bloom, Harold would dismiss this as an "idealism," and, following Nietzsche, assert the "agon" of great art (the ancient Greek tragedians vying with each other, etc.). But my own aesthetic experiences tend to be more Schopenhauerian (leaving aside agitation caused by some rock music, etc.). Even in Zapffe's reductive terms, reading a good book is more than distraction--probably distraction, sublimation, and anchoring all at once; and, in my opinion, sublimation and anchoring involve some values that can't always be easily dismissed or denigrated.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Was going to quote this in the recent thread about the Grey Dog Tales post...
Thoughts on being a writer on Greydogtales - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK

...but I thought I might as well just update this thread.

Quote Originally Posted by rhysaurus

In many ways the modern age is a bad one for reading (the average person is less interested in books now than in the past) but this is only true (or mainly true) in occidental countries, i.e. in the West. In many other countries people devour books, perhaps at an even greater rate than they did in their own past, and 'literature' itself is still regarded as a worthwhile pursuit, not only for all the reasons it was regarded as a worthwhile pursuit in our past, but for extra reasons too: reasons of finally finding a platform to communicate more broadly.

I'm kind of optimistic about this. I was hearing recently about India (apparently one of the greatest countries of readers) undergoing an enormous population boom comparable to China. Is it crazy to think this might be something to be excited about for the health of books?

I think when these conversations arise, we tend to focus on what are still popular traditions. Some people bemoan the decline of rock music, but in the context of all music traditions that ever existed, the complaint is laughable.
Consider the health of every tradition that anyone ever found great meaning and pleasure in. Music forms, dances, games, systems for thinking and living, forgotten forms of storytelling.
There's just not the time to keep every worthwhile thing alive, so we have to search and choose wisely.

[Knygathin]

One way to refresh interest in reading fiction, is to read aloud. The story takes on added life.

I also think that every literary work has its own accent, depending on the author's origin. Stories really need to be read in their own accent, to be comprehended and realized. I think it is a necessity, for them to fully flower.

I wonder if American and non-English speakers, change their native accent, for example when reading a British author aloud?
I really love speaking with an affected high-strung nasal Oxford accent, when reading some typically British writers. After a while it becomes natural, second nature, and less exaggerated. The dialect is already inherent in the text, so there is not much to it. Surrendering to it certainly helps diving deeper into the text, to better understand the mentality of the story, the characters and their social manners, and effectively stirs up what's between the lines. And it is so much fun! Like being an actor on stage. The snobbishness is just part of British culture, and you must allow yourself the pleasure of being swept along by it, otherwise you are missing out. Reading aloud is also good training, for finding out the correct pronunciation of more unfamiliar words (when reading silently, I rarely reflect as much over pronunciation).
For other writers, who seem closer to Nature and the Celtic, like Arthur Machen, I love reading in a thick enforced Welsh accent, with rolling r's and i's turned into æ's. It is just a wonderful accent. A bit like Icelandic. Good and rough and wholesome.

[paeng]

There are too many distractions: easy access to many books, films, music, etc., and much more online.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Been discovering this past year that I probably have ADD and it makes reading particularly difficult, explains a lot

[Knygathin]

Well, I would suggest reading by candle light. It is very calming to the nerves, and helps focus on the present.

[Zaharoff]

Quote Originally Posted by Knygathin

Well, I would suggest reading by candle light. It is very calming to the nerves, and helps focus on the present.

You have younger eyes than mine.