(February 11, 2015 at 1:03 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: This is just a suggestion, but maybe some of you should spend less time compiling lists and more time reading.

A bad year means I only get through 2 books/week. In a good year I'll top 200 titles between ebooks and audio books. In a great year I'll best a book a day.

I read voraciously and will read almost anything.

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(February 11, 2015 at 12:18 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote: I'm really trying hard NOT to create a wishlist of books that's too long to accomplish, and I tend to reread books I love multiple times as a money-saving mechanism. :p

I re-read a lot too. Been through Harry Potter many times, "The Lord of the Rings" once a year for 20 years or so. Still, I can't find enough books...

(February 11, 2015 at 12:18 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote: My amazon wishlist represents mostly the books that I know my library doesn't carry (with some "gotta remember to read this" books in there, too) and while I like the good deals on books from amazon (you can't get much better than $2 for recent-release non-fiction) I have issues with the fact that you can't always loan them to people without also physically loaning them your ereader, and I haven't seen a good way to resell ebooks which is a necessity because I have limited space and don't always want to keep every single book I read.

My online shopping list also is filled with titles I can't get from the local libraries, any of the eight library consortiums I'm a member of so far (two more in northern Co. and two or three more to the south I haven't signed up with... yet).

If you ever see me sitting still in any kind of waiting room, bus terminal, airport, etc... without a book in my hand (or headphones on), please check me for heartbeat and respiration.

Technically, you cannot (legally) loan any e-book unless it is explicitly permitted in the license, and you cannot re-sell them. Your only choices are keep them or delete them. This is one of the greatest bullshit gimmicks to come from the DMCA, the loss of right of first purchase. It infuriates me to no end that I cannot give away a book that I fucking paid for, and (considering the production cost) likely paid a premium for (seriously, 7.99-13.99 for digital versions with almost no production costs), especially when it's a book that I couldn't finish because I didn't like it but I know someone who probably would. It's not like they would even have to jeopardize their precious DRM. All they would have to do is add blu-tooth to the readers and allow transferring the file and the license to another reader. But, that gets in the way of the publisher's... er... I mean the author's (yeah, right) bottom line.

As to storing them, get yourself a 32Gig memory card or thumb drive from Newegg.com for less than $20.00 and just try to fill it with e-books. I'll bet you never do.

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(February 11, 2015 at 8:25 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote: That's about how far into the bible as I get before I hurl it across the room

I don't usually hurl the buy-bull, but wind up hurling on it.

(February 12, 2015 at 12:30 am)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: A bad year means I only get through 2 books/week. In a good year I'll top 200 titles between ebooks and audio books. In a great year I'll best a book a day.

Holy shit, do you not have a job??

Quote:If you ever see me sitting still in any kind of waiting room, bus terminal, airport, etc... without a book in my hand (or headphones on), please check me for heartbeat and respiration.

Will keep that in mind.

(I will now go around poking random strangers in transport terminals just to make sure they're all alive. Surely this is bound to piss people off... )

Quote:Technically, you cannot (legally) loan any e-book unless it is explicitly permitted in the license, and you cannot re-sell them. Your only choices are keep them or delete them. This is one of the greatest bullshit gimmicks to come from the DMCA, the loss of right of first purchase. It infuriates me to no end that I cannot give away a book that I fucking paid for, and (considering the production cost) likely paid a premium for (seriously, 7.99-13.99 for digital versions with almost no production costs), especially when it's a book that I couldn't finish because I didn't like it but I know someone who probably would. It's not like they would even have to jeopardize their precious DRM. All they would have to do is add blu-tooth to the readers and allow transferring the file and the license to another reader. But, that gets in the way of the publisher's... er... I mean the author's (yeah, right) bottom line.

This is a primary reason I dislike purchasing ebooks unless I can get them from the library and only plan on reading them once (which isn't actually a purchase), or unless I can get stupidly good deals on price. I wanted to loan my mom the Henrietta Lacks book but couldn't because loaning wasn't a part of the license for that ebook, but it was so cheap that my mom just bought it herself.

I've been wanting to read Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus, but the prices are outrageous, even the kindle price. For hardcover, it's ~$85, for paperback it's ~$32, and for kindle it's ~$20! WTF?? I could save $15 getting in as an ebook, but I'm still out $20 for a fucking ebook! And it's the type of book that will never be at my library, so I'm really just putting off the purchase until the price (hopefully) drops to something more reasonable.

(February 12, 2015 at 11:38 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote: Holy shit, do you not have a job??

What is this job thing you speak of?!?

I have a desk job that is, for the most part, not terribly demanding intellectually. So, most days I get 9 hours at work to listen to e-books. Then, I push the playback speed slider in WMP up to somewhere between 1.5 and 2/1, depending on the reader. I usually wind up around 1.7 to 1 so I can usually get through about 12 hours (figuring 7 hours actually at my desk with a book playing) worth of audio book. Then I have a little over 2 hours of commute time (bus) to read ebooks. Then there's reading in bed before (and sometimes instead of) going to sleep, eating dinner, sitting and listening to music, taking a... well, probably TMI.

Reading is the single most important form of entertainment in my life. If I were struck deaf and blind, well, let's just say there wouldn't be much quality left in life. Sports, movies, music, television, etc.. All very, extremely distant seconds and I bleed orange and blue (Denver Broncos).

(February 12, 2015 at 11:38 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote: Will keep that in mind.

(I will now go around poking random strangers in transport terminals just to make sure they're all alive. Surely this is bound to piss people off... )

Or, you could just look for the guy with the new hat.

(February 12, 2015 at 11:38 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote: This is a primary reason I dislike purchasing ebooks unless I can get them from the library and only plan on reading them once (which isn't actually a purchase), or unless I can get stupidly good deals on price. I wanted to loan my mom the Henrietta Lacks book but couldn't because loaning wasn't a part of the license for that ebook, but it was so cheap that my mom just bought it herself.

I've been wanting to read Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus, but the prices are outrageous, even the kindle price. For hardcover, it's ~$85, for paperback it's ~$32, and for kindle it's ~$20! WTF?? I could save $15 getting in as an ebook, but I'm still out $20 for a fucking ebook! And it's the type of book that will never be at my library, so I'm really just putting off the purchase until the price (hopefully) drops to something more reasonable.

Trust me, I feel your pain. I keep seeing reminders to "respect the author's rights" in the front of many ebooks yet it's the publishers who are raking in the cash on their over-priced products in a vain attempt to cling to a dead business model. Hopefully, there will soon be a "Spotify for ebooks" type of service where you can pay a manageable fee each month to read as much as you want from a huge selection.

Little Women, oddly enough. Of course, I'm working on and off (mostly off, alas) on a novel updating it, moving the action to the North Shore, and making everyone insane, it makes quite a bit of sense.

I am trying very hard to average one book a week this year. If we call yesterday the end of week 6, I'm already 2 behind :-( but, I didn't do much reading in early January; I'm confident I can catch up.

I didn't start reading for pleasure until about my sophomore year in college. Up until then, I could count on one hand the books I read that weren't assigned in school. Still, I doubt there's been a year in which I've read more than 15 books.

That's going to change.

(February 13, 2015 at 1:27 am)TRJF Wrote: I am trying very hard to average one book a week this year. If we call yesterday the end of week 6, I'm already 2 behind :-( but, I didn't do much reading in early January; I'm confident I can catch up.

I didn't start reading for pleasure until about my sophomore year in college. Up until then, I could count on one hand the books I read that weren't assigned in school. Still, I doubt there's been a year in which I've read more than 15 books.

That's going to change.

Maybe you could try to read some shorter books, like Old Man and the Sea or Notes From Underground.

(February 13, 2015 at 10:41 am)Rev. Rye Wrote:

(February 13, 2015 at 1:27 am)TRJF Wrote: I am trying very hard to average one book a week this year. If we call yesterday the end of week 6, I'm already 2 behind :-( but, I didn't do much reading in early January; I'm confident I can catch up.

I didn't start reading for pleasure until about my sophomore year in college. Up until then, I could count on one hand the books I read that weren't assigned in school. Still, I doubt there's been a year in which I've read more than 15 books.

That's going to change.

Maybe you could try to read some shorter books, like Old Man and the Sea or Notes From Underground.

With that in mind, aside from Voltaire's Candide which I already mentioned, one might want to read Night by Elie Wiesel. A truly great book, but not a happy fun time book.

(February 13, 2015 at 12:19 am)Rev. Rye Wrote: Little Women, oddly enough. Of course, I'm working on and off (mostly off, alas) on a novel updating it, moving the action to the North Shore, and making everyone insane, it makes quite a bit of sense.

I immediately imagine something along the lines of Long Day's Journey Into Night.

(February 12, 2015 at 10:53 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: Hopefully, there will soon be a "Spotify for ebooks" type of service where you can pay a manageable fee each month to read as much as you want from a huge selection.

Umm... Doesn't Amazon have a service like this already? At least, I keep getting ads for it. It sounds like a paid library service where you can "check out" any title Amazon carries* so you don't keep paying full price for ebooks** you only read once.

* Not sure if there are restrictions on title you can "check out"
** Not sure if this extends to Audible.com titles, too

That's my understanding of the service, anyway.

(February 13, 2015 at 1:27 am)TRJF Wrote: I am trying very hard to average one book a week this year. If we call yesterday the end of week 6, I'm already 2 behind :-( but, I didn't do much reading in early January; I'm confident I can catch up.

I didn't start reading for pleasure until about my sophomore year in college. Up until then, I could count on one hand the books I read that weren't assigned in school. Still, I doubt there's been a year in which I've read more than 15 books.

That's going to change.

Nice goal

I can't put time restrictions on myself like that or it takes the pleasure away from reading and makes it feel like work.

Some books I fly through, some books take me a looooong time to read. Sense and Sensibility took me months to finish. I read it architecture school as my "going to bed" book. I would get through a couple paragraphs and fall asleep, then the next night I'd have to reread what I read the night before because I wouldn't remember it, make another couple paragraphs' headway and fall asleep again... Contrast that with when I read The Greatest Show on Earth which I would stay up for hours reading, I'd take it to work to read over lunch, I'd read it while I was out to dinner, when I was a passenger in someone else's car, etc. and I finished in a couple days.