I think it was Larry McMurtry, in the book Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (suggested by a friend at the local library) who wrote that the trouble with writing is that it didn't leave enough time for reading. And vice versa.
Amen, John. So many books, so little time. I ‘m sure you remember our years at Newsday and those periodic book sales in the auditorium: books sent by publishers, in the hope that Newsday would review them. You could buy a bunch of books for a few bucks. And I did. Those sales, plus the wicked invention of one-click buying on Amazon, brought so many books into my house. I didn’t buy them as decorations. I bought them because I wanted to read them. But I spend too much time reading newspaper and magazine articles, to keep up with current events, that I don’t have time for the books. I’ve listened to more than 1,000 audiobooks, most of them novels. But too many of my dead-trees books remain on the shelves, unread. Now that I’m in the octogenarian demographic, I’ve started to give some away.
Sadly, you are also right about people getting way too much information from poorly punctuated, not-so-accurate texts. Even more sadly, Newsday’s circulation has declined drastically, and too many other newspapers have died. Sigh!
I think it was Larry McMurtry, in the book Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (suggested by a friend at the local library) who wrote that the trouble with writing is that it didn't leave enough time for reading. And vice versa.
Always thought newspapers would outlive me. Now I'm not so sure, and no happy about that.....
Hope all is well with you.
Amen, John. So many books, so little time. I ‘m sure you remember our years at Newsday and those periodic book sales in the auditorium: books sent by publishers, in the hope that Newsday would review them. You could buy a bunch of books for a few bucks. And I did. Those sales, plus the wicked invention of one-click buying on Amazon, brought so many books into my house. I didn’t buy them as decorations. I bought them because I wanted to read them. But I spend too much time reading newspaper and magazine articles, to keep up with current events, that I don’t have time for the books. I’ve listened to more than 1,000 audiobooks, most of them novels. But too many of my dead-trees books remain on the shelves, unread. Now that I’m in the octogenarian demographic, I’ve started to give some away.
Sadly, you are also right about people getting way too much information from poorly punctuated, not-so-accurate texts. Even more sadly, Newsday’s circulation has declined drastically, and too many other newspapers have died. Sigh!
Your first line says it all —“too much to read and too little time.”
And the demise of local newspapers and seemingly wide disinterest in reading is equally depressing.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.