You know what drives me in to a seething frenzy of rage?

[jackshoegazer]

People who say, "Oh, I don't read books. I can't read more than five pages at a time. I only read magazines."

Comments

[moonshinekat.livejournal.com]

they actually still have text in Magazines?

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no kidding. "Um, let me pay $3 to look at advertising." Right.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

But it's pretty advertising that tells me what to think. Otherwise I might have to think for myself and that would suck.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I'll tell you what to think. That's all.

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

You only paid $3 for a magazine?!?!?!?!

ttyl

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Well, the ones I like are a bit more than that, but those celebrity/cosmo types are <$3, if I recall from my bookstore days.

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

most mags are 3.50/3.99 for allure/glamour ish ones, in touch and us and whatnot are like 1.99

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I think that's my point, actually.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

What inspired this rant? Do I even want to know?

Every now and then we'd get someone at the bookstore who'd come up wanting cash for a gift card they'd gotten. They'd be like, "um, I don't read. Can't I just have money? I'd never spend this here." Which I thought was completely inane and rude. I mean, you can't even find a movie, or a cd, or a magazine, or a hot fricking cocoa that you'd like?

And I'd say, "no, you can't. Go find something you want or give it away." Don't even get me started on what dicks people are about gifts in this cutlure.

I've noticed I'm much happier sans retail.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Timmy and his girlfriend were over. Timmy asked me if I had a copy of my book he could read. I told him I didn't have one with me. Then he asked what I was reading. George R.R. Martin, a book of 1000 pages and he and his girlfriend say that they'd never finish it because they can't read more than five pages at a time. They only read magazines. Then what the fuck was he asking about my book for. He asks about it whenever he comes over, because he says he wants to read it. No magazine reader is going to read my book.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

What a tool. Reading is such a huge part of my life, and I'm so glad that it's come back in full force in the last year or so. It was gone for a bit and I was very, very sad. I don't know how I managed!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I just can't imagine a mind filled only with cartoons, commercials, celebrity magazines and church. How can that be fulfilling or content? No wonder so many people get Alzheimer's. I'd try to forget everything as soon as I could too.

[jenmarya.livejournal.com]

hilarious

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I try. Or rather I don't and that's why it's a gift.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Or ADD! We're all disjointed, stressed, overstimultaed, and not using our brains one bit.

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

If only I could stop at 5 pages...I hyperfocus while reading...and many times read well into the night, stopping only when I finish the book!

ttyl

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I only do that with books I really love. Otherwise, I usually read for a few hours, or whenever I have a few minutes, like on the toilet :P

[scarletkittygrl.livejournal.com]

i have pretty bad ADHD and actually CANT read more than a paragraph or 2. it sucks, because i LOVE reading. i used to read millions of books. literally, every night i'd read for 2 hours before bed. i'd wake up in the morning and read some more.
now my eyes just jump around the page and i have to re-read the same sentence like, 10 times...then by the end of the page i dont know what i was reading anyways. meh. at least now i have medication and it's helping a little.

but yes, i get mad when people that have the ability to read, just wont or are lazy.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Yes, my post was directed to those who can but don't. Your case is a shame and I feel for you.

[cpt-babypants.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough I was just lamenting the fact that I don't have time to read more than five pages at a time during the week because of work and school.

*barbie voice*
Math is hard! I like reading.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Not being able to is TOTALLY different than choosing not to. I blame short attention spans on negligent parents and Sesame Street.

[redheadedlawyer.livejournal.com]

I have been doing the on-line dating thing for a couple of weeks, and I have given up in disgust. The vast majority of candidates admit to not reading... at all! The last thing I read, one would write, was... my mortgage agreement, Victoria's Secret Catalog, and so on. How could I possibly have anything in common with someone who doesn't read... anything? I gravitate towards fiction - non-fiction is ok! I like sci-fi/fantasy. You want to read more classical literature, mysteries, historical fiction? That's cool, too. You don't read? How have you managed to live so lo long? What do you do with your time? What do you possibly have to talk about?

Sigh.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I read just about everything, and sci-fi/fanstasy are some of my favorites, if they're done well and quite original. I just don't understand non-readers. Are they locked up inside their own little minds, juggling a few loose pebbles?

[redheadedlawyer.livejournal.com]

I truly don't understand how someone with the ability to reason wouldn't read. It doesn't make sense to me at all; I'm glad I'm not alone!

How sad for them!

[redheadedlawyer.livejournal.com]

Oh - and my best story about people who don't read books - last year, I had been out with a guy a few times who is a chief of staff for the state legislature. When surveying my apartment for the first time, including my three rather large bookshelves full of books, his comment was, "People display books like trophies." When I asked, "What?" when I really meant, "What the fuck?" he responded, "People show books to brag about how many books they have read."

Ok. 1. If you think that this is 1/100 of the books I've read, you are grossly mistaken, and 2. Did you just call me an arrogant bitch?

I didn't go out with him, again, and I still get upset when I tell the story.

We are in trouble, people.

[enodia.livejournal.com]

Ah, don't let that fool upset you in the least. His statements merely need translation from their native wanger-ese. For example:
"People show books to brag about how many books they have read."
Translation:
"I am a borderline illiterate who is intimidated by intelligent women. Please do not allow me to breed."
See? It was only a public service announcement warning you not to give him any sex. :)

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful. You should write a dictionary of translations for those of us who can't speak retard. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for noticing. ;)
When you live in Brooklyn, the skill of translating wanger-ese sadly becomes a matter of survival.
*le sigh*

[enodia.livejournal.com]

That's me above.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I figured that :) Wangerese. BBwahhahhahhaaa!

[labelle77.livejournal.com]

i cannot stop giggling at this comment. because, yes. and yes. i just got weird looks tonight for taking my book with me into a restaurant (accompanied only by my four year old, btw). sheesh.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I saw a comedian who was talking about how he was reading a book in a restaurant and the waitress came up and said, "So, you're a reader, huh?" with a sneer of disdain in her tone.

WTF is wrong with people?

[redheadedlawyer.livejournal.com]

Lol! So true, so true! I heeded the warning, I assure you!

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

you win at life.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is INSANE. That is clearly an inferiority complex rising up. That's like class warfare. Rich people only live in big houses to show off their money. Wait, that might be true.

Also, where are we supposed to put our books, if not on bookshelves? Should we keep them behind curtains and in closets so as to not offend the bookphobish?

[redheadedlawyer.livejournal.com]

I saw it as severe insecurity. Seriously, I'm sure I've read a hundred times as many books as I own. I only keep the ones I plan to re-read, and I don't own all the books I would like to own!

In hindsight, when I saw this guy's "tastefully" furnished and decorated house, the only books were a few- maybe three - in a cabinet on display. A curio cabinet with door and something sitting on top of the books. Clearly, they were not meant to be read. I remember wondering if they had sentimental significance, like my father's college dictionary and his physics textbook, both with his notes in the margins. I see now, they must have been the only books he ever read!

As far as where books go, I firmly believe boxes are unacceptable. If they are not on a shelf, they should go away, because you will never find them when you need them anyway. Usually this translates into more shelves! :-)

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to build a house and have a LIBRARY. Eek.. walls and walls of books all of my very own!