Gail Shaw wrote:

> To give you an idea, if I'm not swamped with deadlines, I usually get
> through 2 or 3 books a week. Those are 500-800 page books.
> For a week holiday I'll often pack 6 to 8 books, and finish all of them

Yeah, I've met people like that.

[Indeed, where I work there's a guy who every day has a different 
brick-thick tome in his hand. Usually with lots of dragons and fairies 
on the cover. Weird stuff...]

My question to you would be: how the hell do you read that fast?

I'm just trying to recall the last fiction book I read... You know I 
think it might even have been the Duncton Chronicles... No, wait. I 
remember what the last fiction I read was. And I am *not* admitting to 
it in public! ;-) But anyway, getting back to my original point... when 
I read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it took about 8 months to 
finish it. And that's back when I was at school and had absurd amounts 
of free time available for reading.

>> The difficulty is finding books which are actually enjoyable to read.
>> Don't get me wrong, I do *enjoy* reading good fiction. The difficulty is
>> finding it.
> 
> If you're going to a library, ask a librarian. They're more likely than
> anyone to know a good book in a specific genre that the library has.

In my experience, librarians tend not to be very happy to see you. But I 
suppose it could be worth a go...

> What kind of fiction do you enjoy?

Erm... no idea.

> Besides, if you're just borrowing the books, what do you lose by taking
> something you're not sure of? Perhaps an hour of your time.

True. I wonder where the hell my library card is? Actually, I wonder if 
it's still valid after all these years. I think the last time I used it 
was in 1997 or so...

>>> You might even make a couple acquaintances at the library
>> I've heard this gem before. However, given that talking is strictly
>> prohibited, I fail to comprehend how this one works...
> 
> It's not prohibited in any library I've been in. Making loud noises is
> prohibited, but a soft conversation with another patron on the merits of a
> particular book isn't a problem.

Mmm, OK. I generally find the only other people in *my* local library 
are stressed teenagers frantically cramming for their GCSEs... ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
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