Do You Enjoy Reading More, Same, or Less Than When Younger?

[TromboneAl]

I'm on my 3rd downloaded book since I got the Nook 2 weeks ago and I don't go through hard-copy books that quickly. I'm beginning to realize that the electronic version is easier on my eyes- decent font size, strong contrast between the print and the background, easy to read regardless of how well-lit the room is, etc. My eyes are average 67-year old eyes- I wear glasses but have no serious problems and my prescriptions don't change radically from exam to exam. It's just good old presbyopia (the ten-dollar word docs use, from the Greek for "old eyes".)

I'm so happy to have discovered the joys of electronic readers!

Yes, this is major. I change the font size based on the current state of my vision. I range between font sizes 5 and 7 on my Kindle Oasis 2. There's actually little downside to a bigger font other than having to flip the page more often, which is easily done with the dedicated buttons on my reader.

 

[irishgal]

Al, I think my abandonment ratio is close to yours. I don’t like chick lit, cop stories that follow the same predictable storyline and conclusion, books with unlikely lead characters, such as the beauty queen turned molecular geneticist at age 18, or the books about the “couple who seemed to have it all until one day.....”

When I find something original and well written I can’t put it down, and feel sad when it’s over.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Didn't love reading growing up as I'd rather be outside playing sports and being active.
Nowadays, I enjoy reading mainly to learn about things versus fiction. Due to time crunches, I prefer articles of a few pages or less. However, when I do read a book, it takes me weeks. And after I finish a book, I tend to reread it multiple times but skimming parts and focusing on chapters that interest me to get a better understanding.

 

[retiringby50]

Life is too short to read books you don’t like.

I need to remember this. I've rarely not finished a book because i feel obligated to get through it.

I've always loved to read. In retirement, I can read to my heart's content. I like the "mystery" genre, but my problem is finding new books that aren't gratuitously violent. The violence is unnecessarily graphic and detailed, and is almost always exhibited against female characters.

I've had to stop reading Patricia Cornwell because of the violence (not sure if it's because of a particular book though), but one i really like is Sara Paretsky. I've also noticed that the earlier books of these 2 series were better.

I've now moved onto cozy mysteries, generally women in non-law enforcement fields who stumble upon a murder and helps the handsome hunk of a detective solve them. Cheesy but predictable, which is what i need now to take my mind off the craziness of work.

I enjoy reading as much as i did when i was younger. There were some lean years when i was raising my daughter and working full time.

 

[AboutThere]

When I retire - or am laid off... - the two things I'm most looking forward to are getting healthier and reading.

There is so much to read, I love to read, but my tired eyes can't do any pleasure reading after 8 hours on a work computer.

I can't wait to be able to read my books again. First up, the Iliad

 

[Badger]

I need to remember this. I've rarely not finished a book because i feel obligated to get through it. ...

...I've now moved onto cozy mysteries, generally women in non-law enforcement fields who stumble upon a murder and helps the handsome hunk of a detective solve them. Cheesy but predictable, which is what i need now to take my mind off the craziness of work.

I enjoy reading as much as i did when i was younger. There were some lean years when i was raising my daughter and working full time.

When younger when I would find a book that had more selections in a series I would read them all. I suppose that is why I read all the Hardy Boys books. I have and read all the Clive Cussler books/series up to the present and have enjoyed them but between new book releases I have also read quite a few dozen cozy mysteries too. I find them to be pleasant to read without too much convolution. I try to read from an author with a number of books in the same series. Once completing a series it is sometimes difficult to find a new author. Among those that I have read are all the books in the series by Aaron Elkins, Janet Evanovich, Rita Mae Brown, etc. and now starting on Miranda James. Everything in the cozy mysteries I have found in the public library and borrow the electronic versions for my cell phone to carry with me and be able to adjust the font size for ease of reading.


Looking for more authors that are entertaining with some humor. Do you have any recommendations?


Cheers!

 

[deserat]

I seem to have more trouble finding books that I enjoy. Last year, I read 72 books and abandoned 57. Even when I like a book, I rarely think it ends too soon.

I remember not being able to put books down even when I needed to be at work (Shogun, Gateway, The Firm, etc.), but that happens rarely now.

I'm trying to figure out whether it's because

1. I'm older
2. I write books, so I usually know what's going to happen and when
3. I have too much time for reading
4. It just seems that I enjoy it less

What about you?

First - Hi, T-Al! Sounds like you are keeping busy in RE

Second, I have to agree with you on several counts: first, I think the quality of the writing we see nowadays is not as good as before. Due to the documented loss of concentration and digital/virtual distraction, current authors probably tend to market or adjust their writing to that reality.

Third, it depends on what you are reading and what you are reading for. I read on a broad array of topics both fictional and non-fictional. On the fiction, I want to be entertained and agree with the poster that I find British authors good at the English language. However, some of the classic American writers also have a distinct "American" style (direct, concise and efficient like Chandler and Hammett and one of my favorite authors, Willa Cather (loved her "Death Comes to the ArchBishop" for so many reasons)) that I find 'relaxing' to read. You don't find that with British authors. I also find I am reading or listening to non-English speaking authors fiction more so, especially in the mystery genre. I don't like gratuitous or sadistic violence, so the authors I am reading are more police procedurals. Examples are the Italians Brunetti and Montalbano; Icelandic Erlendur; Swedish Wallender; German Bernie Gunther (so sad that author, an American, died recently); and French Maigret. For English writers I like authors PD James and Ellis Peters; Scottish author Ian Rankin; Australian Napoleon "bony" Bonaparte by Upfield (written in 1930-40); and Christie, Poroit and Marple. I tend to try and read everything an author has written in a series.

For Science Fiction I am drawn to the space operas with a military feel to them - love Elizabeth Moon and am starting another space opera by Amanda Greena and Sam Schall - for those I like the grand struggles over governance and the technology ideas of space travel. I loved a series that was recently written by Lowell, the Solar Clipper Series on podcast. Of course Heinlein is classic, especially to me his Starship Troopers. Also loved Asimov's Foundation and Robot Series. The Expanse series is good, too. I'm not into dystopia or world ending stuff - too depressing.

For non-fiction, I like cook books, philosophy, gardening, history, travel, money management, organizing tips, art, fphysical fitness, medicine, flying, sports (hiking), etc. I've found I can find something interesting about anything.

I feel as though I don't read as much as I did when younger, but if I were to include my online reading, I probably read as much or more. I've been trying to make sure I read books, bu like you, I will not finish something if it does not seem of sufficient quality for me to expend my limited time on. I used to be ashamed if I didn't finish a book, however, as I've gotten older, I've gotten to know myself better and have been exposed to good quality writing such that I don't want to waste my time on junk.

So for this long diatribe was to explain my answer of "other."

 

[athena53]

I've had to stop reading Patricia Cornwell because of the violence (not sure if it's because of a particular book though), but one I really like is Sara Paretsky. I've also noticed that the earlier books of these 2 series were better.

I've now moved onto cozy mysteries, generally women in non-law enforcement fields who stumble upon a murder and helps the handsome hunk of a detective solve them. Cheesy but predictable, which is what i need now to take my mind off the craziness of work.

I can't handle violence, either. I LOVED Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" but it ended there- his subsequent works had too much violence. I like "cozy mysteries" to break up my more cerebral reading. I like a lot of history titles (except I skim the descriptions of battles because my eyes glaze over at all the strategy because my brain doesn't work that way). I also try to find good fiction translated from another language. Some just aren't my style (Isabel Allende) but the ones I enjoy are a window into different cultures.

 

[GaryTN]

I’m reading more but not as much as I want to. I set a goal of reading 52 books a year when I retired. So far I’ve read a high of 43 books in 5 years with a grand total of 150 books. A large number of my books have been from James Patterson and Lee Child.

 

[Mansderm]

More

 

[Calico]

<snip>I've now moved onto cozy mysteries, generally women in non-law enforcement fields who stumble upon a murder and helps the handsome hunk of a detective solve them. Cheesy but predictable, which is what i need now to take my mind off the craziness of work. <snip>

<snip> I have also read quite a few dozen cozy mysteries too. I find them to be pleasant to read without too much convolution. I try to read from an author with a number of books in the same series. Once completing a series it is sometimes difficult to find a new author.

Looking for more authors that are entertaining with some humor. Do you have any recommendations? <snip>

<snip> I like "cozy mysteries" to break up my more cerebral reading. <snip>

For all fans of "cozy" mysteries, you might find this website helpful: cozy-mystery.com

Edited to add: this page on the website is particularly interesting: https://www.cozy-mystery.com/cozy-mysteries-by-themes.html

Happy hunting for new authors/series! I'm one of those folks who enjoys discovering a new cozy mystery author and then reading their entire series (in order, of course!)

 

[papaof2]

I'm much harder to please than I once was. Even authors that I once followed closely have to hit my (probably somewhat high) thresholds. Example: I recently re-read one of the Niven & Pournelle collaborations but, while I finished it, it just ran on forever :-(

In looking over Amazon's offerings on any given day, I find things in the blurbs about some ebooks that stifle any interest in reading the book: missing/unneeded apostrophes, misspelled words, wrong tense, missing words. So I'm a grammar nazi ;-) If you want someone to pay to read your words, those words should be well crafted.

I'm also older (70+) and I also write books.
[mod edit]
I have found that there are a number of good to excellent writers online, many of them giving away their work (free forums for almost every genre, some things posted when completed, others posted as they are written and some of those take on a life of their own ;-) I find some of the writers better than others - same as paper books - and the works of a given author aren't always of the same quality - also history repeating itself - and there are some great storytellers in GREAT need of a proofreader.

Watching the sales of my books, I found a spike in the sales of one book - 22 copies in the past 2 weeks. Perhaps a number that points to a class assignment? I'd like to know what caused that spike and how to create those circumstances for the other books ;-)

 

[harley]

I’m reading more but not as much as I want to. I set a goal of reading 52 books a year when I retired. So far I’ve read a high of 43 books in 5 years with a grand total of 150 books. A large number of my books have been from James Patterson and Lee Child.

I suspect you've read more of James Patterson's books than he has. I like the Lee Child books too, although I feel like he's running out of Reacher stories. He may need to create a new protagonist. I would recommend the Doc Ford series by Randy Wayne White. Edit: Another author you might like based on your comments would be John Sandford, the Lucas Davenport and the Virgil Flowers series'.

Even 30 a year is a good number if you aren't naturally a reading addict. DW, who isn't a reader, tries but seldom finishes a book, and only one or two per year.

 

[bloom2708]

I have an ability to finish almost anything. I've probably abandoned <5 books over the past 30 years.

I am pretty selective, but Amazon Prime gets me 1 book a month. Some are better than others.

When I read non-fiction I might skip through a boring section.

I love finding an author I haven't heard of and then starting at the beginning of their list of books.

 

[Nemo2]

I like the Lee Child books too, although I feel like he's running out of Reacher stories. He may need to create a new protagonist.

Reacher fans mike enjoy Nick Petrie's Peter Ash books:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/nick-petrie/

 

[harley]

Reacher fans mike enjoy Nick Petrie's Peter Ash books:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/nick-petrie/

Cool, thanks. I put holds on the first two.

 

[Nords]

I'm beginning to realize that the electronic version is easier on my eyes- decent font size, strong contrast between the print and the background, easy to read regardless of how well-lit the room is, etc. [...] It's just good old presbyopia (the ten-dollar word docs use, from the Greek for "old eyes".)

I'm so happy to have discovered the joys of electronic readers!

Yes, this is major. I change the font size based on the current state of my vision. I range between font sizes 5 and 7 on my Kindle Oasis 2. There's actually little downside to a bigger font other than having to flip the page more often, which is easily done with the dedicated buttons on my reader.

I'm reading more today than I ever have before, from online discussions to eBooks. I can't remember abandoning a book because I want to see how the author (or their editor) finally closes the curtains. But I try to avoid books which don't immediately pique my interest from the description.

These days I rarely read a hardcopy/paperback book-- maybe one or two per year-- because of presbyopia. Meanwhile I'm going through several on my iPad every week. The print in hardcopy newspapers is too small now so I read online. Even magazine fonts are too small. Our alumni magazine specifically uses a larger font for the older alumni newsletters... and it's still smallish.

Among NetGalley, BookBub, and personal-finance bloggers I'm reading more free books than I ever have before (even more than the public library), so I don't hesitate to buy an eBook. The experience is reliably good enough to keep me coming back for more.

Edit: Another author you might like based on your comments would be John Sandford, the Lucas Davenport and the Virgil Flowers series.

I enjoy starting the first page of his books knowing that the ending will be a gigantic train wreck of disaster spinning out of control and splattering across the landscape... Because people.