Amanda's comments
(member since Sep 09, 2009)
Amanda's comments from the 50 Books A Year group.
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An interesting question seen as not so long ago, the vast majority of people's experience of books or stories in general was via audio. Its only recently that the common man can enjoy such a high level of literacy and vast availability of such a range of reading materials as we do today and if you are lucky enough to live near a good library, its also a practically cost-free hobby. The oldest books known to mankind, such as Beowulf, The Buddhist Scriptures, The Illiad or even the Bible were all passed from one generation to the next via an oral tradition, sitting about fires on cold winter nights, or standing about listening to an interesting man on a podium in the local marketplace. If anything, listening to the audio of the works or writers such as Shakespeare or Douglas Adams is the more valid experience compared to reading the written texts and I celebrate rather than dispair at the modern revival of audio story-telling.
Its also my own opinion that assuming because a book doesn't take long to read, its not good is rather odd. Many great novels such as Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye or the plays of Shakespeare are quick reads, but are very much considered good literature and it would be a great crime to pass them over because of their length.
You can always leave the quick reads off of your list if you're concerned they make the challenge too easy for you and up the ante a bit! It would be a shame to avoid them altogether if you enjoyed them.
I like to mix and match. To read 50 books in one year, one would have to read an average of one a week and those of us with busy lifestyles can hardly consume a book 1000+ page tome like Lord of the Rings, or War and Peace in a mere seven days (not unless you had a lot of spare time on your hands)! One can, however, dedicate several weeks to a larger book whilst perhaps cheating a little by reading a few quicker reads along the way. It would be a shame to miss out on these heftier books just to reach a target...
