I alternate between 4-5 different things. I read books the way you described at the start. I blast through stuff in a short period (usually 10-30 books in a few months), then I move on to video games, then I move on to fishing, then just film/tv, then I move on to building model planes, then I go back to books, and I repeat that process randomly.
Like anything worthwhile, I sometimes don't "feel like" reading. This happens particularly after finishing a novel that impacted me emotionally. But I know that reading is something I should prioritize, and as you said, disciplining myself to make a start, to just read a few pages, is often the cure. When I am in a reading slump, I try for the ten-pages-a-day goal.
This is the same as with music & movies. Two main things: variety & research. Read many styles & types: novels, novellas, short story collections, poetry, plays, graphic novels...And do a little work to find more obscure stuff that you wouldn't hear of normally: internet searches, youtube channels like this, USED book stores, thrift stores, etc. You'll never get sick of any art if you go beyond "bestseller" lists. It's endless!
I've been looking for a RUclips channel that discusses books for years, but all I've ever found was vacuous and noisy teenagers talking about John Green and the Hunger Games. I was starting to think people on RUclips just didn't talk about literature... I just found your channel and I'm impressed.
I agree. Knowing your taste in books/as a reader, which is different for everyone, helps so much with not falling into times where you no longer wish to read in the moment. Great discussion 👍🏽
I am a binge reader. I get the urge to read where I'll do almost nothing else for weeks on end, then I'll get tired of it and end up playing video games for a few months. During that time though, I'm still noting interesting books and buying them, so when I get the itch again I'm ready to dive in. Learning to be more consistant is something I'd like to get better at, I'm glad I stumbled on this video because I havent seen this talked about that much.
Sometimes there will be a month or less when I'm more immersed in watching movies or listening to music, but books are a constant preferred medium otherwise. That's the way I likes it!
I am, as Stephen King coined, 'A constant reader', always have a book with me and when I finish that book there is another in my possession immediately, if not sooner.
I have phases when I read more and others when I read less. Whenever I get bored with a certain kind of book I pick up something from a different genre. I generally don't worry if life is busy and I don't read as much. It's like everything you do in a constant flux and not this rigid unchanegeable habit.
I finished Blood Meridian and haven't been able to read anything since because I still keep thinking about it. I got halfway through Inherent Vice and while it's good I can't take my mind off BM.
I have never really gotten sick of reading. It's been an active hobby for me for 5+ years. I read about 50-100 pages per day on five days a week. If I'm tired or I have too much other plans I don't read so there are usually about two days a week when I don't read at all. On those days I still usually think about books, check goodreads or book-related subreddits etc. I'm reading 50-70 books a year like this. There are so many books I want to read and so much to think about relating books and literature so I think that this hobby really has no limits. I'm happy I found this hobby.
everything gets sick of anything eventually … life is about balance … I can probably count on my two hands books I read where I didn't want to skip a few pages
Great discussion video - thanks for sharing your thoughts!☺️ My answer is similar to yours. I don’t remember a day where I haven’t read even one page before going to bed. I have a long commute to and from work so I find that that is my prime time for uninterrupted reading. I’m always switching between ebooks and audiobooks (usually saved for times when my eyes are strained from staring at the computer all day). I also switch up genres as well to keep things fun and interesting!
In October, I had to work my full time job, attend classes for 2.5 hours 3 times per week, and work about 22 hours a week for an internship at the same time. It was brutal. I don't think I even had the energy and focus to listen to audiobooks on some days. I think it's about recognizing your current level of enjoyment from reading or listening and changing behaviors appropriately. I'm back to wanting to read or listen every day.
I read every day but try not to stress out to much on the amount I read. I average about 40 pages but a chapter a day is still progress. My problem is I buy more books than I read :S. Have about 20 books on tbr and there all about 800 pages or more.
I did that too in the past, but I've been trying to be good these last few years and avoid buying stuff until there's still unread books on my shelf. I still get easily tricked by bargain bins :)
@@TheBookchemist 😂😂 Im also in that cycle, I wonder when I will get out of it!! Now I try to limit my reading plan to topics. Like now I read Aeneis and afterwards I want to read some more books concerning the antic Roman world before tackling Dante but than I still bought two books totally outside of this topic 😂😂
Now and then, I go through periods of intense activity that leaves me mentally drained, but that is the only time my reading dries up. I try not to have any more than ten to twelve books on my TBR list, as I think more than that makes it become a hurdle to be overcome which should never be associated with reading. Reading should be for pleasure, but by that I don't mean only easy stuff, because being challenged is a great pleasure for me, but of course, everybody is different. I ALWAYS take a book with me on public transport.
I very much agree with your take on reading! I also like your limit to the TBR list a lot - my list is currently endless and, as a result, pretty much meaningless (most of the stuff in there I won't get round to reading anytime soon).
I agree with your approach. My problem though: I’m kind of addicted to books, so whenever I go into a bookshop, I come out of it with a book. I have intermediate goals of maybe 5 books and mit- to long term goals of which I already have some books in my shell
It was very comforting learning that even the Bookchemist sometimes picks up books based on their cover! :) Great thoughts! Wow, July is for me my greatest reading month (the beach...) Then comes December.
There heas been long long times in my life I couldn't read, couldn't concentrate however hard I tried , after a couple of alinea's I thought what/ What was it that I read? Iver and over again ever so frustrating. Now, after this current job is properly done I'm gonna read again. Really look forward to that! Thanxx for all your revelations and insight.
Stolen time at work makes me a productive reader. Audiobooks, podcasts and the likes make up my commute. I practice consecutive interpretation when reading becomes an overstimulated experience. I've been finding the exercise not only useful for concentration, but also fun as it imitates a thought process that must be accompanied to be understood. If I understand myself well, it's safe to say that my occasional aversion to books is an indicator of the philosophical reservations that I must overcome about life in general 😅
Just thought id say I can tell your English has become even better since I was last watching you frequently. Must be getting a lot of practice lol. Keep it up man and still love your channel! Im currently reading Growth of the Soil by Hamsun
I pretty much read 50 pages a day every day, but I only read fiction. Every once in awhile my job becomes too busy and I read about 20 pages. I read at least 100 novels a year tho. Reading is my preferred medium of entertainment nowadays.
I’m reading everyday, when I have a issues with a book passage and can’t enjoy it that much, I just have a pause and look in some other books, up until I have enough energy to continue that main project…
Because we were only reading 50 pages a week of GR I decided to read another book at the same time (And did not take your advice about choosing something a bit lighter like a comic or an rpg book). I'm now massively behind on reading both and finding it hard to pick either up :(
I'm a binge reader. I'll go through 3 or 4 major bursts of reading a year and get through 50-80 books, but in between I'll just watch baseball or football. But when i WANT to read i can't do anything else!
I'm a weekend reader: I read for severals hours (not all day but most of it) on saturdays and sundays, holidays and such. I love (and need) a fully deep immersion. I simply wouldn't enjoy to read in spare moments during the day. I just can't help it and sometimes it's painful because I fell a fisical need to spend at least two days per week being comfy at home and read. I've been whitout reading at all for very long periods in my life, and I look back to that with regret and say to myself why did I do that?? I also like to read just one book at the time and I sincerely feel sorry when I don't like a book and I decide to leave it unfinished.
For me, it changes very much from book to book (complex or disturbing stuff tends to get exhausting after more than one, one and a half hours), but if the book is right I also find it much more enjoyable to get immersed into it for several hours. These days I rarely pick up a book if I can't dedicate at least a half hour to it.
I never "get sick" of reading, but 1-2 weeks per year I fall into a reading slump. During these times, no book can hold my focus or interest. So I leave reading aside for a few days, then choose a work of non-fiction, which I don't typically read. Somehow this re-calibrates my habit, and I can continue reading fiction thereafter.
Unrelated : give us a videos on GR scholarship ! Articles, books etc. I usually buy more than I read, so I have a leaning tower of tbr, and also I fight the urge to take my own (somehow unconscious) reading commitments too seriously, especially when they get in the way of travel reading, i.e. reading as visiting a place, and mood reading. This is why in the end I prefer binge reading, cause it gives the impression that you can travel (and mood) read and still actually read for real, that is, it gives you the impression of being infinite, as certain deserted places do.
Oh I like Twenty One Pilots and Fun. very much, and (while I haven't listened to their latest records) I also love Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and, to a lesser extent, All Time Low. Surprisingly I could never really get into Paramore!
The_Bookchemist some great bands in that list. Panic was always a great band. A lot of those bands from that scene used a lot of pop culture 90’s references and references to literature as well which I found very compelling. Paramore’s first 3 albums are great especially “Brand New Eyes” which had a slightly darker sound and darker lyrics.
Something I'm curious about: As a phd student, do you read more fiction and secondary sources, what do you think would be the ratio of the two in terms of hours you spend? Early in my undergraduate years, I've always read a lot of fiction but now read more criticism and actually want to get back to reading fiction more often. It's weird, but also I like to read 3-4 books at once. Like I would read something theoretical and a novel at the same time. I like that kind of variety.
I finished my PhD, effectively, last year, but at the time I would spend more time on the fiction than on the criticism, mostly because the fiction required an amount of attention and close reading very different from the critical texts. (I also wrote about authors on which a relatively limited number of critical texts have been written, especially compared to more canonical writers).
I definitely haven't been reading as much as I'd like to be. I've been reading "Cider house rules" for a while now. What are your thoughts on John Irving?
That was the problem with reading: you always had to pick up again at the very thing that had made you stop reading the day before. - Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine
It's not that I get sick of reading, but I get sick of having high hope of book hype and then got disappointment. After that, I enter reading slump cause I just can't find any books that excite me.
Video games are too stimulating and addictive so I don’t allow them into my home. Same with movie/tv streaming services. On my deathbed I doubt I’ll regret reading all that literature and wish I had vegetated more. I can’t imagine a life without Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, Gene Wolfe, Herman Hesse, Borges, etc.
I alternate between 4-5 different things. I read books the way you described at the start. I blast through stuff in a short period (usually 10-30 books in a few months), then I move on to video games, then I move on to fishing, then just film/tv, then I move on to building model planes, then I go back to books, and I repeat that process randomly.
Like anything worthwhile, I sometimes don't "feel like" reading. This happens particularly after finishing a novel that impacted me emotionally. But I know that reading is something I should prioritize, and as you said, disciplining myself to make a start, to just read a few pages, is often the cure. When I am in a reading slump, I try for the ten-pages-a-day goal.
This is the same as with music & movies. Two main things: variety & research. Read many styles & types: novels, novellas, short story collections, poetry, plays, graphic novels...And do a little work to find more obscure stuff that you wouldn't hear of normally: internet searches, youtube channels like this, USED book stores, thrift stores, etc.
You'll never get sick of any art if you go beyond "bestseller" lists. It's endless!
I've been looking for a RUclips channel that discusses books for years, but all I've ever found was vacuous and noisy teenagers talking about John Green and the Hunger Games. I was starting to think people on RUclips just didn't talk about literature... I just found your channel and I'm impressed.
I agree. Knowing your taste in books/as a reader, which is different for everyone, helps so much with not falling into times where you no longer wish to read in the moment. Great discussion 👍🏽
I am a binge reader. I get the urge to read where I'll do almost nothing else for weeks on end, then I'll get tired of it and end up playing video games for a few months. During that time though, I'm still noting interesting books and buying them, so when I get the itch again I'm ready to dive in.
Learning to be more consistant is something I'd like to get better at, I'm glad I stumbled on this video because I havent seen this talked about that much.
Sometimes there will be a month or less when I'm more immersed in watching movies or listening to music, but books are a constant preferred medium otherwise. That's the way I likes it!
I am, as Stephen King coined, 'A constant reader', always have a book with me and when I finish that book there is another in my possession immediately, if not sooner.
I have phases when I read more and others when I read less. Whenever I get bored with a certain kind of book I pick up something from a different genre. I generally don't worry if life is busy and I don't read as much. It's like everything you do in a constant flux and not this rigid unchanegeable habit.
avoid genre dude.
I finished Blood Meridian and haven't been able to read anything since because I still keep thinking about it. I got halfway through Inherent Vice and while it's good I can't take my mind off BM.
i'm looking to start B.M. this weekend, nice
I have never really gotten sick of reading. It's been an active hobby for me for 5+ years. I read about 50-100 pages per day on five days a week. If I'm tired or I have too much other plans I don't read so there are usually about two days a week when I don't read at all. On those days I still usually think about books, check goodreads or book-related subreddits etc. I'm reading 50-70 books a year like this.
There are so many books I want to read and so much to think about relating books and literature so I think that this hobby really has no limits. I'm happy I found this hobby.
everything gets sick of anything eventually … life is about balance … I can probably count on my two hands books I read where I didn't want to skip a few pages
Great discussion video - thanks for sharing your thoughts!☺️
My answer is similar to yours. I don’t remember a day where I haven’t read even one page before going to bed. I have a long commute to and from work so I find that that is my prime time for uninterrupted reading. I’m always switching between ebooks and audiobooks (usually saved for times when my eyes are strained from staring at the computer all day). I also switch up genres as well to keep things fun and interesting!
Switching up genres is essential I believe! I don't commute anymore, but when I did, that was a huge boon for my reading!
In October, I had to work my full time job, attend classes for 2.5 hours 3 times per week, and work about 22 hours a week for an internship at the same time. It was brutal. I don't think I even had the energy and focus to listen to audiobooks on some days. I think it's about recognizing your current level of enjoyment from reading or listening and changing behaviors appropriately. I'm back to wanting to read or listen every day.
Kudos for surviving that!!
I read every day but try not to stress out to much on the amount I read. I average about 40 pages but a chapter a day is still progress. My problem is I buy more books than I read :S. Have about 20 books on tbr and there all about 800 pages or more.
I did that too in the past, but I've been trying to be good these last few years and avoid buying stuff until there's still unread books on my shelf. I still get easily tricked by bargain bins :)
@@TheBookchemist 😂😂 Im also in that cycle, I wonder when I will get out of it!! Now I try to limit my reading plan to topics. Like now I read Aeneis and afterwards I want to read some more books concerning the antic Roman world before tackling Dante but than I still bought two books totally outside of this topic 😂😂
Now and then, I go through periods of intense activity that leaves me mentally drained, but that is the only time my reading dries up. I try not to have any more than ten to twelve books on my TBR list, as I think more than that makes it become a hurdle to be overcome which should never be associated with reading. Reading should be for pleasure, but by that I don't mean only easy stuff, because being challenged is a great pleasure for me, but of course, everybody is different. I ALWAYS take a book with me on public transport.
I very much agree with your take on reading! I also like your limit to the TBR list a lot - my list is currently endless and, as a result, pretty much meaningless (most of the stuff in there I won't get round to reading anytime soon).
I agree with your approach. My problem though: I’m kind of addicted to books, so whenever I go into a bookshop, I come out of it with a book. I have intermediate goals of maybe 5 books and mit- to long term goals of which I already have some books in my shell
It was very comforting learning that even the Bookchemist sometimes picks up books based on their cover! :)
Great thoughts! Wow, July is for me my greatest reading month (the beach...) Then comes December.
August is usually better :) though I haven't seen a beach in a long while!
There heas been long long times in my life I couldn't read, couldn't concentrate however hard I tried , after a couple of alinea's I thought what/ What was it that I read? Iver and over again ever so frustrating. Now, after this current job is properly done I'm gonna read again. Really look forward to that! Thanxx for all your revelations and insight.
Stolen time at work makes me a productive reader. Audiobooks, podcasts and the likes make up my commute. I practice consecutive interpretation when reading becomes an overstimulated experience. I've been finding the exercise not only useful for concentration, but also fun as it imitates a thought process that must be accompanied to be understood. If I understand myself well, it's safe to say that my occasional aversion to books is an indicator of the philosophical reservations that I must overcome about life in general 😅
Just thought id say I can tell your English has become even better since I was last watching you frequently. Must be getting a lot of practice lol. Keep it up man and still love your channel! Im currently reading Growth of the Soil by Hamsun
I pretty much read 50 pages a day every day, but I only read fiction. Every once in awhile my job becomes too busy and I read about 20 pages. I read at least 100 novels a year tho. Reading is my preferred medium of entertainment nowadays.
I’m reading everyday, when I have a issues with a book passage and can’t enjoy it that much, I just have a pause and look in some other books, up until I have enough energy to continue that main project…
Because we were only reading 50 pages a week of GR I decided to read another book at the same time (And did not take your advice about choosing something a bit lighter like a comic or an rpg book). I'm now massively behind on reading both and finding it hard to pick either up :(
:O
I had a manual labor job one summer that started at 7am each day, and I found myself always too tired to read at night.
I'm a binge reader. I'll go through 3 or 4 major bursts of reading a year and get through 50-80 books, but in between I'll just watch baseball or football. But when i WANT to read i can't do anything else!
I'm a weekend reader: I read for severals hours (not all day but most of it) on saturdays and sundays, holidays and such. I love (and need) a fully deep immersion. I simply wouldn't enjoy to read in spare moments during the day. I just can't help it and sometimes it's painful because I fell a fisical need to spend at least two days per week being comfy at home and read. I've been whitout reading at all for very long periods in my life, and I look back to that with regret and say to myself why did I do that?? I also like to read just one book at the time and I sincerely feel sorry when I don't like a book and I decide to leave it unfinished.
For me, it changes very much from book to book (complex or disturbing stuff tends to get exhausting after more than one, one and a half hours), but if the book is right I also find it much more enjoyable to get immersed into it for several hours. These days I rarely pick up a book if I can't dedicate at least a half hour to it.
Have you seen the new illustrated edition of kavalier and Clay? Looks like a must have for Chabon fans.
I have seen it. Will I get it? Not anytime soon, I don't think.
I'd like to see your opinion Michel Houellebecq, especially "Extension du domaine de la lutte" and "La Possibilité d'une île".
Appreciate the late time upload
I never "get sick" of reading, but 1-2 weeks per year I fall into a reading slump. During these times, no book can hold my focus or interest. So I leave reading aside for a few days, then choose a work of non-fiction, which I don't typically read. Somehow this re-calibrates my habit, and I can continue reading fiction thereafter.
That (leaving fiction aside for a while, picking up some non-fiction I find interesting) has helped me too in the past!
Unrelated : give us a videos on GR scholarship ! Articles, books etc. I usually buy more than I read, so I have a leaning tower of tbr, and also I fight the urge to take my own (somehow unconscious) reading commitments too seriously, especially when they get in the way of travel reading, i.e. reading as visiting a place, and mood reading. This is why in the end I prefer binge reading, cause it gives the impression that you can travel (and mood) read and still actually read for real, that is, it gives you the impression of being infinite, as certain deserted places do.
The video on the Reading Schedule for the GR reading project has some tips on secondary sources! But I may talk more about it in coming videos ;)
Nice Fueled By Ramen flag! What are some of your favourite bands from that label?
Oh I like Twenty One Pilots and Fun. very much, and (while I haven't listened to their latest records) I also love Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and, to a lesser extent, All Time Low. Surprisingly I could never really get into Paramore!
The_Bookchemist some great bands in that list. Panic was always a great band. A lot of those bands from that scene used a lot of pop culture 90’s references and references to literature as well which I found very compelling. Paramore’s first 3 albums are great especially “Brand New Eyes” which had a slightly darker sound and darker lyrics.
I've found that I spend a lot less time not reading since finding your channel! Late comment lol
Something I'm curious about: As a phd student, do you read more fiction and secondary sources, what do you think would be the ratio of the two in terms of hours you spend? Early in my undergraduate years, I've always read a lot of fiction but now read more criticism and actually want to get back to reading fiction more often. It's weird, but also I like to read 3-4 books at once. Like I would read something theoretical and a novel at the same time. I like that kind of variety.
I finished my PhD, effectively, last year, but at the time I would spend more time on the fiction than on the criticism, mostly because the fiction required an amount of attention and close reading very different from the critical texts. (I also wrote about authors on which a relatively limited number of critical texts have been written, especially compared to more canonical writers).
Only when writing a paper.
I definitely haven't been reading as much as I'd like to be. I've been reading "Cider house rules" for a while now. What are your thoughts on John Irving?
I've never read him - I'd like to check out The World According to Garp sometime though!
The_Bookchemist yeah Cider House is good but I've been cursed by seeing the movie first.
That was the problem with reading: you always had to pick up again at the very thing that had made you stop reading the day before.
- Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine
It's not that I get sick of reading, but I get sick of having high hope of book hype and then got disappointment. After that, I enter reading slump cause I just can't find any books that excite me.
I aim for around 30 plus pages a day... nothing crazy
Video games are too stimulating and addictive so I don’t allow them into my home. Same with movie/tv streaming services. On my deathbed I doubt I’ll regret reading all that literature and wish I had vegetated more. I can’t imagine a life without Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy, Gene Wolfe, Herman Hesse, Borges, etc.
no
First view
Thrash film era, Bad Music era and vidya is for subhumans. So, it's quite easy.