What do you read when you're tired of books?

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Recently, I've gotten burned out on books. This happens periodically when I read too much, too fast. If I keep on reading books, I feel like I won't be doing them justice; I’ll just be reading them to say that I’ve read them, without really appreciating everything the book has to offer.

So. When I’ve overdosed on novels, I take a break by reading comic books and trade paperbacks of comics. My eyes get a break by looking around at word bubbles and pictures, instead of the same old left-right, left-right, left-right, left-right etc. I also like to read comics as a break from books because they’re basically short stories/chapters and, thus, don’t require a huge time commitment.

What do you read when you need a break from/between books? Short stories? Comic books? Cereal Boxes? Nothing? Do you just sit in a chair and stare at a wall until you’re ready to read again?

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Monday, 22 March 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

If only there was some sort of widely available moving pictures device...

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 22 March 2004 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, i watch movies. Or read magazines. Us Weekly and In Touch and The New Yorker and Harpers. Or i sit and stare at the wall. or I go on ILM/ILE/ILB. Or I play records. Or buy more books and wait for it to pass. Comics are good!

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

See it as a good chance to get some air. Music too, although of course you can listen to music and read. Unless it's Scandinavian death metal.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 22 March 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Catch up on the international flicks I've missed, read graphic novels by Gaiman that I've just discovered, read mind-junk-food-gossip-rags (People, Vogue, W, Newsweek), knit, cross-stitch, cook. It all leads back to reading books in the end.

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, comics and magazines. I catch up on my Netflix queue. Watch a lot of Law & Order reruns. Or I read some really engrossing nonfiction.

― Jessa (Jessa), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Netflix is the devil. I'm seriously considering putting the entire first season of Little House On The Prairie on my queue and this would not be a temptation for me whatsoever if Netflix didn't make decisions like that so damned easy.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Netflix got me sucked into watching more television programs, if you can believe it. I didn't realize that they had Little House on the Prairie. Now I may have to get that. My sister and I loved that show and the books too. Used to play Little House as well, though I never got to be Laura since I was the younger sister. Dammit.

― bookdwarf (bookdwarf), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, i think i need a nellie olson fix.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Loved the LHotP books, but the TV show? Is this a case of childhood sentiment or did I miss something the first time around?

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, yeah, I won't go too far in my defense of the show, but they could get pretty wild. And Nellie really was a force of nature. And they would have those insane hallucinatory episodes where half-pint dreams of killer clowns. They got downright bizarre in the later years.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, that makes it sound like they had more than one episode where she dreams of killer clowns. I think there was only one.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

it is a disorder. A reading disorder. Kind of like bulimia - you read too much and then you have to throw up because your body can't contain it. That's why you have to lie on the couch and watch every single episode of Law And Order in reruns while reading People and Us and eating food from a bag.That's called recovery from carpal book syndrome.
A well balanced diet of literature and pop culture media is recommended - but I always binge and purge.

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh- I'm the only one answering the question. Little Outhouse? The "Mary is blind" part thrilled me - how did she become blind? It certainly made the show more interesting - watching Mary try to figure out where the house stopped and the prarie started.

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with Netflix making you watch more t.v. Let's see, I've rented The Sopranos, Strangers with Candy and The Office. Still on my queue: Curb Your Enthusiam, Sex and the City (Never seen it but I heard all the girls are sluts. Good enough for me.), Black Adder, Red Dwarf and Oz.

And I think quilting is the arch-enemy of reading. I've just started a quilt and it's seriously sucking up all my reading time.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Monday, 22 March 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Try WRITING! Take Notes!

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I do the same thing with comics. I listen to music and practice, but I always seem to schedule seperate time for that.

My real vice at the moment is playing video games...I love doing it but feel sort of guilty afterwards, like I could have been using that time to read. They seem to balance each other out though.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it LHOP that that Johnny Cash clip in his video from Hurt came from?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Conclusion: When a man (or woman) is tired of reading, (s)he watches Little House on the Prairie.

This site is too rock 'n' roll for me.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

You"re tired of BOOKS? ALREADY???

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I linked to this piece by Geoff Dyer on the "link to a great piece of writing" thread but it may feel more at home here. Reader's Block.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 22 March 2004 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I started a thread on ILE once called Reader's Block.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a tendency to embrace evil things, so Netflix being the devil works for me and by the way, Black Adder rules!

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm.. I guess Reader's Block is fairly common, then. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

I will add that in addition to (or, in place of) comics/movies, I'll read... [whisper] a Nora Roberts book. I'm so ashamed!!! It's like literary junk food. I need a trashy, predictable book to clear my head before jumping back into real literature. Plus, it makes me appreciate well-written books a whole lot more.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Monday, 22 March 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Black Adder not only rules, it is a founding 'document' in my personal religion.

"I have a cunning plan."

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 22 March 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

...and is turnip-worshiping voluntary, Michael?

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

When I'm tired of novels I read poetry and when I'm tired of poetry I read children's books and when I'm tired of children's books... I can't watch TV but I do listen to the radio, or go for a walk, or knit, or cook, or clean, or write.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I've been permanently burnt out on books because of school. I've moved on to TV and comics. Interestingly, I'm going to be studying TV and comics, so I expect to be burnt out on those too.

I've also been reading more of the newspaper and magazines now, which makes me feel well-informed.

― O.Leee.B. (Leee), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't think i've ever been bored of books. I can't help but read everything around me.

― sally (sally), Thursday, 25 March 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

vermont girl..i know what you mean about quilting. i can't knit because i need my hands to read.

i usually drink myself into a hole for a couple weeks and by the time i crawl out again, i've sworn off society and am ready to read again

― eleni (eleni), Thursday, 25 March 2004 23:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Magazines, zines

― Frank Marcopolos, Saturday, 3 April 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

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