audiobooks
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You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Does anybody here have experience starting from almost complete scratch when beginning to read recreationally?
I used to read like a madman in my younger years, but discovering video games and youtube and shit made an overstimulated vegetable who can't hold focus on a book for more than 10 minutes.
I've considered replacing my morning and afternoon commute with an audiobook instead of music, is that at all a good idea, or are audiobooks going to create a bias and fuck up the actual literary experience for me?
Depends on what you actually wish to achieve, if anything. Audiobooks are not literature in the same way a youtube vid isn't cinema. They share some commonalities, but ultimately don't deliver the same experience.
As to your focus issues, that's something you will need to work out yourself. It isn't some unconquerable ogre on the mountaintop. It's simply a matter of discipline, focus & willpower.
Try the /lit/ starter pack. YA fiction is easier to consume but it's watered down content & grade school grammar will unquestionably leave you with the same issues. If you don't wish to tackle the starter pack classics, try some high fantasy - it *usually* demands more of the reader than YA, but is less constrictive than the classics.
Still, read some classics anon. There are lots of good ones, in all different genres from a multitude of periods & cultures.
>>7898387
>Audiobooks are not literature in the same way a youtube vid isn't cinema.
Fanfiction isn't literature in the same way a youtube video isn't cinema.
Audiobooks are not literature in the same way way reading the script of a movie isn't the same as watching it.
>>7898402
>way way
See? I can be pedantic too.
>>7898417
Oh I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be pedantic. I was just trying to make a better analogy :P
>>7898387
>YA fiction is easier to consume but it's watered down content & grade school grammar will unquestionably leave you with the same issues.
I completely disagree. YA is very hard for me to consume because it is so vapid. Especially since OP says he already has a concentration problem. If the words on the page don't give me enough to think about I usually find my mind wandering and I will end up having to reread parts I completely zoned out of.
Reading the classics is not that hard and will definitely hold someone's attention better than YA or fantasy.
OP, you should try reading some short stuff so it doesn't look intimidating and then, after you find yourself in love with a certain author's writing, you will be excited for their longer stuff rather than worried about not being able to get through it.
>>7898372
Read stoner. It is easy, short and great.
>>7898387
Thank you for your insight, anon.
The most recent book I actually read was Book One if the Drizzt series, it was some good shit but it took me like two month to read because of the aforementioned lazy asshole thing, coupled with college.
>>7898452
Right. But surely you can take a look at the deluge of YA garbage, recognize it's overwhelming popularity with the lunatic bozos who comprise modern literary society, and come to the conclusion that, while you may not be wrong, your experience is most definitely subjective. Most people like the OP, who don't read much & have short attention spans, gobble that shit down BECAUSE of the vapidity.
Reading classics isn't hard, per se - depending on what you read. If you hand OP Ulysses & Percy Jackson, which would they most likely read? Classics are classics because they require a certain understanding of subtlety that is lost & an uncommon grasp of, and appreciation for, erudition & grammar eg; Moby Dick.
Again, I maintain that the OP should ease their self into literature by reading some high fantasy. It's entertaining, creative, not too subtle but also challenges the reader to question basic morality & recognize patterns, employ conjecture & project their identity on to easily accessible & identifiable characters.
>>7898483
I definitely see where you are coming from, but I think it depends on the person. YA always bored me and before getting into the classics the only thing I read were non-fiction science books.
I honestly thought all fiction was boring, but then I got into reading philosophy and then that got me into classic lit. If someone handed me something by Tolstoy as a teen rather than Harry Potter when I was in elementary school, I probably would have grown up with an appreciation for fiction.
It is impossible to say for sure, and the books I did read were often quite technical, so maybe without that I wouldn't have been able to pick up other stuff so easily. Obviously I wouldn't recommend Ulysses, but Dubliners might not be a bad start.
You might be right though, and judging by the statistics, as you pointed out, most people love YA. I don't know what kind of person he is or how easily he picks thinks up.
Guy, listening to your books on your commute or during work is a great idea.
Especially if you have kids or are usually too busy to sit down and turn the pages.
Download the librivox app on your phone, tons of great free domain stuff
