What are you reading?

[MJRH]

Which has led me to a question - my attention span has definitely been eviscerated by the Internet to a point where I am second-guessing myself when putting down a book, wondering if it's the book that's bad or if I have ADD. Anyone else have thought along the same lines?

Have you ever forced yourself to read a novel that wasn't immediately gripping, and found it to be rewarding by the end? Talking fiction here, not philosophy/science/etc.

I sure haven't, but that's me. Think of it this way: if the internet's really preventing you from reading this stuff, it probably was bunk anyway.

[Faust]

Thank you MJRH for that much needed dose of optimism :-)

[dduyyy]

Ftfy.

Haha thank you, I didnt notice that. Also can you recommend me some other books of her?

[bukka]

Haha thank you, I didnt notice that. Also can you recommend me some other books of her?

Kitchen is her most famous work.

[PoubelleMaBelle]

Thank you MJRH for that much needed dose of optimism :-)

sorry for the reality-check, but you are indeed fucked.


a great read (if you can manage to read it ) :

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

review/abstract – http://tatamail.com/pdf/tata_review_...net_effect.pdf


and a related discussion on npr (has audio)

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2014-04-22/reading-technology-andstill-us-attention-span

so yeah, you're not alone. noticed this as a big problem for myself last year; & at 27, to strain on something you'd read with pleasure ten years prior... pretty disheartening. fwiw i found it helped to start small/simple – aka poetry/pulp/mystery/sci-fi (thank you PKD) – then, just built from there... attention span as muscle etc

and of course cut down the mindless online skimming/scanning.


curious how parents today are safeguarding against such things; you have children, no?

[Faust]

My daughter has a strict time limit on iPad, but she mostly plays games there. She's one of very, very few of her classmates without a phone and social media presence. It's a losing battle, but I figure the longer I hold out the better her chances are overall.

I also read with her every time we see each other and she reads a lot on her own. Not saying they are quality books, but at least she's reading.

[DudleyGray]

I'm the same with limiting screen time for my son. He gets to have screentime once per day max, freedom to choose when without asking my permission, but if it happens to get cut short because he didn't pick a convenient time, then oh well, it sucks to be him. Otherwise, I just cut him off if I feel like it's been long enough, but usually something else comes up where that's not necessary. Sometimes he talks about wanting a phone and I just laugh.

How old is your daughter if you don't mind my asking? Some of my son's classmates have cell phones but I haven't heard anything about social media accounts. I'm not on any social media, though, so I'm just kind of oblivious anyways.

[Faust]

My daughter is 11.5. Good job on your son (how old?). Look at it the American way - through competition - most kids are going to be so fucking retarded that ours will probably do quite well in life.

[DudleyGray]

He's 8. Oddly enough, I'm overall OK with him being exposed to violence or "daddy words" or whatever typical parents go out of their way to shelter their kids from, but god I just need him not to turn into that phone-stimulus zombie for as long as possible.

[stagename]

Couple of things in the non-fiction department:

New prophets of capital by Aschoff, which although reheats arguments from others, is well-packaged and a fast read. Good intro on the subject.

K-Pop by John Lie, although lacking the prose of the previous book, is a great (acamdeic) take on the history of the genre.

Why love hurts by Illouz is a fascinating book on the social construction of love and its implications.

[GucciAmen]

Recently finished Men Without Women--a collection of short stories by Ernest Hemingway (offers some of his finest works, I highly recommend reading "Hills Like White Elephants" the minimalistic writing style paired with the heavy symbolism is unlike anything I have read before).

Also kicked off a collection of short stories by Turgenev the other day, first off is: "The Diary of a Superfluous Man", obviously a near polar opposite of Hemingway, as Russian short-stories - atleast Turgenev's - are not all that short , but mainly, the difference lies in how laconic Hemingway is in comparison to how unreserved Turgenev can be (which is in no way a means of criticism for either writers).

[dash]

Finished 'A very British coup' this weekend. Potentially pertinent considering the current offering from the Labour party.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02zrry5

[Faust]

Had to put down Gomorrah - the melodramatic language did me in. How could this be a best seller? I don't get it.

Picked up Modernism: The Lure of Heresy by Peter Gay.

[deadboy]

Reading D.V. on the pretense that it's some excellent and important fashion book. Finding it... difficult... to get through.

[Faust]

Fuck Diana Vreeland. Fuck Anna Wintour. Fuck all these conventional haute bourgeois dinosaurs that are held up as some sort of cultural heroes. Burn it with fire.