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Is being a reading addict bad?
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Hello Amanda, I hope you don't mind. I have a friend request with you pending. I would like to share with you my similar experience, yet would rather not make it 'public'. I was exactly where you are.
I love to read both fiction and non-fiction books. Although I am always in the process of reading a book, it often takes me two to three weeks to finish one. There are just too many other, and in my personal opinion, too many more important and rewarding things to do.To me, reading is a part of my life. That said; there are many other parts:
I spent four years studying for the priesthood at St. Mark Seminary in Erie, Pennsylvania (1961 - 1965).
I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966 an am a Vietnam veteran.
I was a professional musician for eight years, playing the guitar and electric bass in a Country/Western band.
I held several management positions during 33 years of employment with the H.J. Heinz Company and retired as the manager of the Company's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania facility in 2001 at the age of 54.
I married my late wife in 1970. We had five children and spent 35 1/2 wonderful years together. I now have four wonderful grandchildren.
I have visited five foreign countries and 45 of the United States (5 to go!)
I have been comfortably retired for 19 years and counting.
Please note; None of the above mentioned personal achievements are extraordinary. Any one of them might be achieved by the average person. All anyone has to do is want to do it and be willing to expend the time and effort.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, I believe that reading is an important and rewarding part of life; however one should not permit any one thing to prevent one from seeking and enjoying alternative important and rewarding things to do. Life is too short to squander any of it.
Amanda wrote: "Like many of you, I would imagine, I’ve had my head stuck in a book since I learned to read. I’m 50 now and I’ve read hundreds of books every year. In my brain I feel like I’ve lived thousands of d..."Hi, Amanda. This world can be a hopeless and cruel place. Since the beginning of books they were written to give humans a sense of how we may be able to live with one another in a positive way. Books can help us understand our differences and recognize what is most precious. Some people are looking to understand how they can love and be loved, deal with sexuality, comprehend personal power in a world filled with domination and control, find release from pain both physical and mental with laughter or healing treatments, find something to relate to so they don't feel so alone and disconnected, deal with death and the loss of loved ones. That's only some reasons people read. Add to that the search for a vicarious experience that keeps people from going nuts and doing something stupid in the real world. How could such a human search be wrong? It's the search that strengthens and celebrates humanity. It's the search and practice that sets us apart from beasts with little other concern than serving their hungers and desires.
Hi Amanda,I love happy endings and I don't think they make you naïve, although I would refer to one I write as a 'resolution'. In other words, my characters reach a point of peace though life might not be perfect.
In fact, when my most recent manuscript returned from the MS assessor she warned that the ending was too bleak for the reader. Also, that I should develop the romance and resolve it. So what had been a rape ended up being a rescue and a marriage proposal!
I’m also a reading addict. It’s the best drug around!
Amanda wrote: "Like many of you, I would imagine, I’ve had my head stuck in a book since I learned to read. I’m 50 now and I’ve read hundreds of books every year. In my brain I feel like I’ve lived thousands of d..."Almost everyone does this in some fashion. There is more time for experiences, due to the lack of natural dangers. In this, culture flourishes. If reading is what makes you happy, so long as it does not interfere with your daily life and does not bother you, it is not considered a disability. In that, you are really the only person who can determine if this is or is not a problem for you. If this is how you wish to spend your life, why do you care that you may miss something? If you spend your life wondering what if, give that a try, and books will be waiting for you if that isn't your cup of tea. In my opinion, you should do what makes you happy, so long as you're still able to be a productive member of society. Where you find solace in books, almost an entire generation finds solace in movies and video games. So long as they continue to care for themselves and do their jobs, they should get to do what makes their life worth living.
Max Liam Hanson wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Like many of you, I would imagine, I’ve had my head stuck in a book since I learned to read. I’m 50 now and I’ve read hundreds of books every year. In my brain I feel like I’ve lived..."I agree.
Sonya wrote: "I’m also a reading addict. It’s the best drug around!"Read on, Sonya! Read on.:)
This has been so interesting reading all of your views. Thank you so much for the input and wise words. I suppose if you’re going to be addicted to something, then at least reading won’t hurt you the way drugs and booze will (although the doughnuts I’m eating WHILE reading may cause a problem).Thank you for taking the time to write, much food for thought there.
I guess that could depend on what you're reading.
John wrote: "I guess that could depend on what you're reading."I know. If someone's reading manuals on how to make a bomb, please don't.
I feel quite strongly that people should live their lives in the way in which they feel comfortable. Taking pleasure in books doesn't mean you've missed something, it means you've found something different. Just because life isn't lived to the expectations of others doesn't make it wrong - it just makes it yours. :)
Thank you, Katherine. Wise words, and ones everyone should live by. Sometimes easy to forget!
Katherine wrote: "I feel quite strongly that people should live their lives in the way in which they feel comfortable. Taking pleasure in books doesn't mean you've missed something, it means you've found something d..."Beautifully put.
Amanda, I was where you were in my late 40s. I wrote seven books while in a 'difficult' long-term marriage (22 years). Finally, I decided to end the marriage and finally, live my life rather than simple write historical romance fiction to escape it. I did exactly that for ten years and the result? I found love and lost it. I bought a restaurant and it failed. I wouldn't give up those years for anything in the world because as my father taught me, it's only a mistake if you make it twice. I learned such valuable lessons during that time and met some really spectacular people. I have no regrets and yet, here I am once again. Happily married and writing to my heart's content and loving it. The circle of life doesn't always mean you must go full circle to find it.
The Merriam-Webster English Dictionary defines addict as follows:"To devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or excessively*."
*With very few exceptions, too much of even a good thing is, by definition, excessive.
By all means, enjoy reading. Prefer it to watching television or playing video games, and other innocuous pastimes, but don't allow it to deprive you of all the many other wonderful opportunities and experiences that come with enjoying a full, varied, and meaningful lifestyle.
Toward the end of your life, rather than express regret regarding all of the things you could have done but didn't do, would it not be better to reminisce about all the enjoyable things you actually did do?
As an author, I say thank goodness for the reading addicts!
Gail wrote: "Amanda, I was where you were in my late 40s. I wrote seven books while in a 'difficult' long-term marriage (22 years). Finally, I decided to end the marriage and finally, live my life rather than s..."It's good to hear your story, Gail. I'm glad you found happiness.
Some really thoughtful and interesting comments here, I’m so glad I have found at Good Reads such an intelligent and insightful community! It is true ‘addict’ has negative connotations, bibliophile sounds much better! Anything done to excess is dangerous and there have been times when I, too, have read rather than facing up to the fact my situation was intolerable (most of my first marriage!) Thankfully, life has a way of muscling in and when I experienced a stillbirth I found I couldn’t read for months and months - it was like I had to experience the grief, my brain wouldn’t let me escape it. It’s the only time in my life I couldn’t find solace in a book.
So reading does offer an escape, but there are times like when you have to work, or your children are insisting you ‘come and watch them’ when you have to put the book down. It’s all about balance isn’t it?
One of my favourite stories about reading concerned a British couple in the 1930s who were divorcing.
The reason? The man complained his wife kept reading when he was trying to talk; the wife moaned that her husband kept talking when she was trying to read.
😂
Also, I wonder if all the books I have read where there is resolution and a happy ending, where bad people generally fail and the good guys succeed, has that made me naive? Childishly optimistic? I can’t help thinking my brain has been hardwired more by the books I’ve read than life experiences. What do you think? Is this only me worrying about this?