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[Bolkonskij]

I kind of rediscovered reading printed books after more than a decade of "digital only" and I have to say I greatly enjoy it. There is something special about feeling the pages under your fingertips.

In my town they changed former pay phone stations to book-sharing ones by adding shelves. People can dispose whatever books they don't need and others can grab what they want for free. It works fairly well and what I like most about it is the discovery aspect of it. Grabbing a book just because of the name, cover and short description on the back - without reading any reviews beforehand - and discovering stories / thoughts / ideas.

Like I recently picked John Irving's "The Hotel New Hampshire" from 1981 just because.  And started reading it on a train trip.  I started to like it after page 40 or so and now that I'm almost through the book, I'm glad that I picked it up!

Somebody else reading printed books?
Any booksharing in your town going on?
If you read printed books, what are you reading?

[Knezzen]

Yes, but mostly non-fiction. Would love to be able to pick up a good book and just read, but right now I don't really have the calm to do so.

[refinery]

I've been reading a non fiction book called Never Home Alone, about all the insect and fungal and bacterial ecosystems that exist within our homes.
Scarier than any horror novels you've ever read. 

[MigMac]

yes but rarely novels, mostly history books

[ssp3]

Somebody else reading printed books?

Yes.

Any booksharing in your town going on?

Yes, but I don't use it.

If you read printed books, what are you reading?

Everything. Fiction, non-fiction, technical, arts. I'm buying new books too. I hate reading on electronic devices.

[aBc]

I read all of the time!

Read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by Wiliam L. Shirer
when I was nine years old. Took me forever to actually read
and enjoy any non-fiction. But now I can’t stop.

Anyone read any Thomas Pynchon? (Gravity’s Rainbow or V.?)
Or maybe Tom Robbins? (Still Life With Woodpecker or Jitterbug Perfume?)
And of course… all of Kurt Vonnegut’s titles.

How about Philip K. Dick? “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”?

Off to pick up a copy of “Earth to Moon” by Moon Zappa today.

Have only read a few books via an iPad - and then only
because I couldn’t find particular titles in print.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoNGRVeC7Y

[robespierre]

I was 17 when I read Gravity's Rainbow and 18 when I read Infinite Jest. You could say they had some kind of pernicious influence on my development.

[MigMac]

How about Philip K. Dick? “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”?

Read many of his visionary books. "Do Androids..." and "A Scanner Darkly" among my faves.

[ceratophyllum]

Cixin Liu's Three Body Trilogy (in translation): Without going too much into spoilers, I'll say these are some of the most original hard science fiction books I've read in a long time, combining the horrors of the Cultural Revolution with the Fermi Paradox....

Stephen Baxter's Manifold books and other speculative near- and far- future science fiction. The best British science fiction writer since Arthur C. Clarke. Except for his historical fiction which I find a bit tedious.

Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space: speculative hard science fiction but with a peculiar west country, space operatic flair, and some gross body horrors thrown in.

[Rosetta]

These "take a book, leave a book" nooks certainly exist in my town, most often around schools and neighborhood community areas (the playground, pool, etc.).

As far as digital goes, I have never been one for e-books, never ever.

Reading to me is often an escape from the pixelated world, and the baggage and distraction that it can bring. For this escape to be successful, the printed page is always a prerequisite.

Sure, e-reader technology is convenient and impressive, but is there not always a cost to convenience? So far it's been environmental health, mental health, privacy...

So I will keep my printed books, and thankfully I don't think they are going anywhere.

Currently going through my backlog of late 90s/early 2000s web/interface/graphic design coffee table books, which are always of particular inspiration when I venture back onto the computer. My library also includes some art retrospectives, pictorial reviews of architecture, philosophy, non-fiction, and more.

[torvan]

Yes. I am reading "The Stand  The Complete & Uncut Edition" where King readded the 400 or so pages he had to pull out from the original release. It is a much better version, but I can only read about 15 or 20 pages per session as it brings up memories of the Covid-19 epidemic before vaccines and mask mandates when the news was filled with hospitals spilling out into tents, ER folks also getting it, the closing of all social interactions, people dying, and a government that was rudderless.

But I am 402 pages into it now.

[GaryN]

What's a book?

[ivanshpak]

I can tell you as a publisher (SOYAPRESS), books are read and bought, and that's not going anywhere.

[jojo2k]

Heck yeah. Last couple I read were "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle-something. Read Steve Jobs by Isaac whoever too. Both really good books, I'm glad at least SOME of the books on my shelf I can proudly say I've read now hahaha

[jojo2k]

These "take a book, leave a book" nooks certainly exist in my town, most often around schools and neighborhood community areas (the playground, pool, etc.).

As far as digital goes, I have never been one for e-books, never ever.

Reading to me is often an escape from the pixelated world, and the baggage and distraction that it can bring. For this escape to be successful, the printed page is always a prerequisite.

Sure, e-reader technology is convenient and impressive, but is there not always a cost to convenience? So far it's been environmental health, mental health, privacy...

So I will keep my printed books, and thankfully I don't think they are going anywhere.

Currently going through my backlog of late 90s/early 2000s web/interface/graphic design coffee table books, which are always of particular inspiration when I venture back onto the computer. My library also includes some art retrospectives, pictorial reviews of architecture, philosophy, non-fiction, and more.

I feel you on the digital escape part. I'm all for the physical copy except for whenever it comes to comics and manga... trying to buy entire series of those and you'll end up being your own library in no time. Digital works for me on that front!

[torvan]

Finished "The Stand" and now reading the three volume set of Victor Klemperer's diaries from 1933-1959. They are "I Will Bear Witness" 1933-1945 (two books) and "The Lesser Evil" 1945-59.

If you read them (and they are very interesting reading) keep in mind he is a hypochondriac--so you will internally think "Quit Whining" if you forget these are his personal notes which he never intended to publish, so he is not writing for the reader but getting everything out of his brain in writing.

But when you read lines like "It is not the big events of the war that are important, but the everyday life of tyranny, which may be forgotten. A thousand mosquito bites are worse than the blow on the head. I observe, I note, the mosquito bites."

Should our own democracy fail like theirs did, I wonder if I would be able to do something like this.

[Jubadub]

Should our own democracy fail like theirs did, I wonder if I would be able to do something like this.

If it ever truly existed, there hasn't been democracy in nearly or literally every country for at least a few centuries now.

[Rainier]

Devouring Timothy Snyder, a contemporary historian with a clear view of putin (my European friends call him "putler) and other authoritarian leaders, how they got where they are, their history.

Splendid stuff.

Grateful for public libraries. Here, there is no censorship, yet.

[ssp3]

Snyder is a rare gem.

[PrepperGeek]

I love printed books, Its nice to just open a book and read plus, Its so nice to have physical users guides, manuals, references, etc when using my computer, It doesnt take up any screen realestate, nor do I have to worry about a large pdf taking up valueable hard drive space, or loading when Im scrolling or switching pages.