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No books? I'd turn to drugs or throw myself down a manhole and pull the cover after me.

i don't know how i would live either.
my boyfriend hates reading..and I just don't comprehend. I'm still working on it. I'm trying to find him books that he will find interesting just to lure him into the book reading world. I just bought him the David Beckham autobiography because he loves soccer..so hopefully he will enjoy it! :)
i WILL convert him. i WILL.

i agree. i have always thought that losing my sight would be horrible, because i would no longer be able to read.

my son loves books, but he's only 5, so he could eventually change. my husband likes reading, but it's something he does rarely. unlike me, of course. my parents were both big readers (mom more than dad) and i'll be eternally grateful to them for being such great examples of how wonderful and exicting reading can be.

good topic!

It is a type of escapism healthier than drugs, drinking or cutting. More kids should be reading. I think I wouldn't be able to survive.

Great Thread Fiona!

I am always thinking about the time in my life when I didn't read. And I ask myself, what were you doing?
Wasting time.
Because now, I feel like this is my education. Every time I read a book I learn something. No matter how small the lesson is. I feel like I am teaching myself thru books.
I think about it all day, when I'm not thinking of my kids. When I have time to come home, sit in my recliner and read.

It is so great to share these thoughts with other readers.

Great topic.
A world without books. Sort of like "Fahrenheit 451" by Bradbury.... No escapism, no fictional tales to curl up with ....

I certainly would not be able to cope. Whenever I find a spare minute, I head to my reading nook and whip out my current read.....

I would be at a loss....

Fiona, I too would be lost without books. They bring people together - look at all of us here. I can't imagine how narrow my world would be if people like you and Lori, Ann, Kellie (and all the rest - don't want to eliminate anyone, so no offense) didn't contribute to the mind blowing experience we get when we find a new author and encourage others to read a particular book.

I have had strangers walk up to me at the gym and ask me what I am reading now and what do I think of such and such book. I have made new friends and gone to dinner with people who just asked me about books.

Books are wine and music and laughter and tears. No books would make Linda very dull indeed.

Linda, you said it all. Usually whenever I meet someone new and try to strike up a conversation, I ask what they are reading currently. Without books, there would be no GR, and without GR, I wouldn't have read A Great and Terrible Beauty, and met all of you guys. And that would be a shame.

It would be tough. You need an escape. Everybody does. Some escape w/a beer, a glass of wine, I'd rather do it w/books any day. I agree w/Kellie, it is an education. Even fiction is a lesson if you learn something about yourself in the process. And what a great way to connect w/people.

Jamie - My husband used to only read non-fiction, but I converted him. There is hope! (I did it w/audiobooks, though, he has a 35 minute commute. So there had to be a practical purpose in it for him.)

Books can change your perception of the world, it can be life changing, I love that about books, that they can effect how I see myself and other people. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy showed me that, and I'm much happier because of it. (It all comes back to TGDT for me).

And that's the neat thing about it, (G)Emma, it's all about TGDT now, but in ten years, it'll be about something else, and in another ten, something else. You'll grow, your book choice will grow and change, and hey - you'll be okay. Because you chose to learn more, understand yourself & others more, and open your mind to new ideas.

Exactly. And they'll all have special places within my heart. I cannot even comprehend why people don't read. It's the biggest escapism within my life, not drugs, not drinking, not cutting, books.

Yeah, I really don't get the cutting thing. I think it's really sad that people find that as an escape. More like a cry for help.

Yeah....if only everyone in this world read. We'd be much better off. And we'd probably have more authors too!

And we'd be more educated citizens! It would just be a better world all around, (G)Emma!

Very true Laura. Good point Fiona, it allows you to escape into another world, whether you want to live that life is your decision. You get to pick and choose what you like that they've done and leave the rest behind.

Yeah, but I was just thinking about this the other day...even someone with a sucky reality can escape (at least a little bit) with a book.

The issue with some of these folks is getting the books into their hands. Esp. the children growing up in abusive families, etc.

True, that's another issue, if abused children could get their hands on books about other abused children, they wouldn't feel so alone.

Yeah - a nice idea for charitable contributions.

I do not think I have ever felt so relieved as when I discovered, in the ER after my stroke, that I could still read.

I had to re-learn a great many other things (walking, writing, etc.), but not re-learn to read!

Although it was hardbacks only for a while - I couldn't manage a paperback for several months after the stroke.

I've been a book addict since I was at least four, and I don't know how I would have coped!

FIONA!!!!!!! Please don't start a thread with that title anymore....it isn't good for health, at least not for mine. I don't even want to think about it.
Already know if for whatever reason I hadn't much time to read and so didn't read for some days I become sad of it and need to read.

Jamie, I am also gonna convert my boyfriend..I know I will, i have to:-))) At least a good start is that he likes Jostein Gaarder books but he read most of them and doesn't read fast..but it's a start. I will find something. Now he is reading my Dylan Dog's which I think is great!!!!