Kevin's Watch

My favourite is no. 24! (You can find the list here.)

1. I liked the movie version much better.
2. That’s a pretty big book for such a lil’ lady.
3. People still read!?!?! OMG LOL ROFL FML OMG OMG #SORRYNOTSORRY
4. You’ll have to get rid of some of these.
5. I only bought this book because the cover art has my favorite actor on it.
6. I ripped out all the pages of a first edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer because Pinterest told me I could use them to decoupage a picture frame.
7. I haven’t read any of them, but don’t they look awesome on my shelf?
8. Oh this? I just carry it around because it makes me look smart.
9. I hate the smell.
10. Who’s Kurt Vonnegut?
11. Libraries make me nervous. Too quiet!
12. I only go to the bookstore for the free wifi.
13. I’m too hungry to look at the secondhand book table with you. Can we skip it?
14. Wait. The point of this book club is actually to discuss the book? I thought it was code for wine night!
15. Nope, can’t wait for you to finish this chapter. We need to discuss my date right now.
16. I have to read Prawst for class. No, I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s pronounced. It’s Swedish.
17. Do you really need to pack all these books? We’re only going away for 3 days!
18. I spilled cranberry juice on it. Sorry.
19. Sorry. It’s just that even the smallest reading light bothers me.
20. Print is dead, you know.
21. We’re sorry. Ikea’s Expedit shelving system is being discontinued.
22. If you could only have one book to read in the whole wide world, what would it be?
23. No, we’re sorry. The author has decided not to complete the series.
24. Did you hear Vin Diesel is gonna play Holden Caulfield?
25. This bookstore is closing to make way for an Equinox.
26. You have to be out of your apartment in 3 days.
27. I use them more as plates than anything else.
28. That book you lent me? Hmm. I can’t remember where I put it. The last thing I remember was highlighting my favorite parts in pink.
29. But what ELSE do you want for your birthday?
30. You read a lot. What’s the name of the author who wrote that book about those things?
31. Why do you care so much about the spine?!
32. After you pull out your book: Oh. I thought maybe we could chat while we wait.
33. Yeah, we met in a bookstore. Can you believe it!? I never go to bookstores—I was only in there buying a coffee!
34. Put that book down. Let’s play beach volleyball instead!
35. The next volume in the trilogy will hit shelves May 2019.

u.

#35 is a great punchline. It'll be outdated eventually though. But new villains will arise in its place.

7. I haven’t read any of them, but don’t they look awesome on my shelf?

Books Do Furnish a Room is probably my favorite title for a book ever.

Anthony Powell... such an excellent author!

We could probably start our own items in this list as well. Such as:

1) In Bookstore: Oh, you want a history book? What are you looking for, Civil War or WWII? Neither? Well, we might be able to order a book for you...
2) Oh, you read? Have you read Harry Potter/Game of Thrones/Whatever flavour of the month? Those are the absolute best!
3) What class are you reading that for?

Sometime during my first week in my current job, a coworker came up to me and said - apparently quite annoyed for some reason - "You don't belong here! You read too much!"

To which I replied - "Is that an insult or a diagnosis?"

Realizing even as I said it that a Zelanzy quote would be quite wasted on her.

She looked at me like I was something she'd found under a rock.

Seven years later I'm still wondering why the sight of someone reading a book on their lunch break offended her so much.

Sorus wrote:Sometime during my first week in my current job, a coworker came up to me and said - apparently quite annoyed for some reason - "You don't belong here! You read too much!"

To which I replied - "Is that an insult or a diagnosis?"

Realizing even as I said it that a Zelanzy quote would be quite wasted on her.

She looked at me like I was something she'd found under a rock.

Seven years later I'm still wondering why the sight of someone reading a book on their lunch break offended her so much.

A while ago, one of my former supervisors came to my desk during my lunch break to mention a few things about work I'd be doing after the break was over. I started putting the book away, and his response was something like:

"No, do whatever you need to do during your lunch break."

#17...story of my life.

On my first day at this job, there was no computer set up for me or anything, so the boss gave me a book (about web copy-writing) to read. I finished it before the end of the day to his amazed delight. To my embarrassment, he still tells people that story to this day.

--A

20. Print is dead, you know.

This one is even wronger than they think.

u.

ussusimiel wrote:

20. Print is dead, you know.

This one is even wronger than they think.

u.

Gotta admit, I don't buy many physical books anymore, but that's more to do with my preference for not owning physical things. Maybe when I get around to buying a house (if I ever do; I don't like being tied down!) I'll start collecting "things" again. But for now, I prefer digital, as it can travel with me.

A couple of things about ebooks, firstly it seems that holding a physical book helps with concentration and information retention. (We relate screens to distraction and short-term tasks/attention.) Secondly, for whatever reason, the price of ebooks for best-selling titles is now often dearer than the paperback edition. (This is not the case for indie titles.)

u.

ussusimiel wrote:A couple of things about ebooks, firstly it seems that holding a physical book helps with concentration and information retention.

True, although the studies I've seen this for specifically compared paper to back-lit screens like phones, tablets and computers. I've yet to see one for an e-Ink display (like a Kindle or a Nook), and some posit that the difference is not as drastic.

Of course, my Kindle's battery is dying; it only holds a 30% charge, and drains quite rapidly ...hmm, maybe it's time to get a paperwhite?

Rigel wrote:

ussusimiel wrote:A couple of things about ebooks, firstly it seems that holding a physical book helps with concentration and information retention.

True, although the studies I've seen this for specifically compared paper to back-lit screens like phones, tablets and computers. I've yet to see one for an e-Ink display (like a Kindle or a Nook), and some posit that the difference is not as drastic.

Yea. I wonder. I know my wife has the e-Ink, and I've got a fire---much prefer reading on the fake-paper than the mini-tv.

I also wonder if the simple extra physicality of an ordinary book really makes the difference? Similar reason to the apparent fact that taking notes by hand [and perhaps writing in general, whether novels or test essays] is better [a little better or a lot better is not settled] than other methods?

The physical book is also more permanent, more real. I have a book where the author decided he wanted to change a scene. If I had that in e-book, the text would be changed automatically.

Think about that. eBook text could be changed at any time whenever you connect to Wi-Fi... now let your Orwellian nightmares run wild!

A book is also a medium. It fares better on the pages much like how a painting fares better in person than on a screen. There is something lost when you go from the physical medium to that of the digital. Some of which people will disagree with me on (dignity, respect).

And there's my pretentious rant for today

Orlion wrote:
Think about that. eBook text could be changed at any time whenever you connect to Wi-Fi... now let your Orwellian nightmares run wild!

Remember the debacle when they took back people's books? Was't one of them "Animal Farm"?

--A