BookTalk.org

Nice to meet everyone.

I live in PA and work as an RN. My hobbies are numerous: Baseball, video games, reading (duh), travel, board games with family and movies. Recently though, I have been noticing a trend. I am less and less attracted to video games and more to reading. I used to get a feeling of stress relief when I played games, I felt as if I stepped into a private space of my own. Now, I find it is books that give me this feeling.

I may not be up to snuff with my knowledge of classics or even current books, but I often bring a unique perspective to discussions on books. It is hard though to find people who want to discuss books these days. Unfortunately, people in general are very unlike myself as I described above. Seems more and more people are moving away from reading, becoming hypnotized by means of entertainment that grant instant gratification (movies built entirely on special effects etc..).

I started reading for pleasure (outside the classroom) as a pre-teen. My first book I picked up without having it's reading assigned to me was "The Hobbit" by JR Tolkien. I went from there to reading a great many Wizards and Dragons type books and collections (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, World of Greyhawk). At some point though, I don't know exactly when, I started to crave more. Those fantasy novels lacked in story and character set up and I wanted to find more. So I ventured into reading a great many Stephen King novels. For a number of years, he was really the only author I read. The book, "IT", continues to be one of my all time favorites, and coincidently, my all time favorite movie, "The Shawshank Redemption" came from one of his short stories. Slowly but surely, I branched out and started reading other authors. Now I find myself seeking company to discuss reading with, and hence I find myself a member here.

I am definitely one of the people you described in your opening paragraph - reading is my solace, and only reading gives me the total escape from the real world that one sometimes needs in order to cope with life. I learned this fact when I was about seven years old, and have stayed true to my original bookwormy beginnings over the past few decades. You're also correct in seeing that there are fewer and fewer people with whom to discuss books in general, and thus I turned to the Internet, in which all things are possible, to seek people like myself, and on my first try I found this wonderful little haven called BookTalk. In the almost four months that I've been a member, I've acquired a post count upwards of 1,000, statistically averaging about 11 posts a day. Needless to say I am hooked, and definitely found what I was looking for. I'm pretty confident you will, too.

I also notice that your userpic is the Pittsburgh Pirates logo, and I have to assume that you are a Pittsburgher or else you wouldn't be a fan, because as far as I've noticed or gleaned from other people's conversations, the Pirates haven't been doing well since I was a kid, and their fan base is comprised of mostly locals, who are well known for being die hard fans of Pittsburgh teams, even if they are utter failures. I most definitely stand to be corrected here, but this is just my guess given my personal experience.

At any rate, welcome to the wonderful world of BookTalk. I look forward to seeing your unique perspective in discussions.

Hello and welcome to the forum! The Hobbit is one of my all time favorite books as well.
I have read it about 6 times!

Cheers,

Darnell

Welcome to BookTalk.org.

bleachededen wrote:I am definitely one of the people you described in your opening paragraph - reading is my solace, and only reading gives me the total escape from the real world that one sometimes needs in order to cope with life. I learned this fact when I was about seven years old, and have stayed true to my original bookwormy beginnings over the past few decades. You're also correct in seeing that there are fewer and fewer people with whom to discuss books in general, and thus I turned to the Internet, in which all things are possible, to seek people like myself, and on my first try I found this wonderful little haven called BookTalk. In the almost four months that I've been a member, I've acquired a post count upwards of 1,000, statistically averaging about 11 posts a day. Needless to say I am hooked, and definitely found what I was looking for. I'm pretty confident you will, too.

I also notice that your userpic is the Pittsburgh Pirates logo, and I have to assume that you are a Pittsburgher or else you wouldn't be a fan, because as far as I've noticed or gleaned from other people's conversations, the Pirates haven't been doing well since I was a kid, and their fan base is comprised of mostly locals, who are well known for being die hard fans of Pittsburgh teams, even if they are utter failures. I most definitely stand to be corrected here, but this is just my guess given my personal experience.

At any rate, welcome to the wonderful world of BookTalk. I look forward to seeing your unique perspective in discussions.

Yes, I do live in Pittsburgh. Its a long story how I ended up here. Short version: Economy went bad while I was in Seattle as a Travel Nurse and I came back here to be close to family. Might perhaps move back out to WA though once the economy is a little easier on us working folk lol.
I do go to many Pirates games. shhhhh............my favorite team though has always been the Red Sox. Pedro Martinez is the biggest reason I started watching baseball. I do l root for my hometown Pirates though. Even when I was away from here I kept an eye on them. I like the feel of the games at PNC Park. For some reason, when my father and I go to a game, I can't get this picture of the Simpsons attending an Isotopes game outta my head.
Looking forward to discussing our views of some books we've both enjoyed.

papi_rico wrote:Hello and welcome to the forum! The Hobbit is one of my all time favorite books as well.
I have read it about 6 times!

Cheers,

Darnell

The Hobbit actually introduced me to what reading is meant to be. I lost myself in that book one time in such a way that I felt like I was coming out of an out of body experience. The part where the Bilbo and the dwarves enter Mirkwood. The dwarves are captured by spiders and Bilbo comes to the rescue. I read and read, well beyond that point, with no conscious awareness of the time or my surroundings. I didn't feel like I was reading, instead the words rolled off the page and came to life. I had a picture in my head of the story and it played on and on. Suddenly, as I became aware of the need to empty my bladder, I realized it was dark out and I had been reading for a long time.

Since we agree on "The Hobbit", we may agree on other books. I would recommend "The Face" by Koontz. I'm well over half way through it and I get that same feeling I got with "The Hobbit". I am not reading to finish the book, I am reading because I want..............no, I need........to know what happens next and I yearn for answers to questions I have.

Eriksoln wrote: Yes, I do live in Pittsburgh. Its a long story how I ended up here. Short version: Economy went bad while I was in Seattle as a Travel Nurse and I came back here to be close to family. Might perhaps move back out to WA though once the economy is a little easier on us working folk lol.
I do go to many Pirates games. shhhhh............my favorite team though has always been the Red Sox. Pedro Martinez is the biggest reason I started watching baseball. I do l root for my hometown Pirates though. Even when I was away from here I kept an eye on them. I like the feel of the games at PNC Park. For some reason, when my father and I go to a game, I can't get this picture of the Simpsons attending an Isotopes game outta my head.
Looking forward to discussing our views of some books we've both enjoyed.

Aww, that's really sweet that you go with your dad. My family has never been big on sports, so I guess my equivalent would be the theater or a lecture or something, but I definitely understand the bonding you're talking about. And I can also see Homer and Bart at the baseball game! Awesome.

Hello and welcome Eriksoln!

You have started a wonderful conversation, its always nice to learn about new members! I hope you enjoy yourself here.

welcome! I am a huge Red Sox fan. I love board games. Yahtzee is one of my favorites. have you chosen a book to read for discussion yet? I think I am going to read Alone. I usually read fiction but this one sounded too good to pass up. I am catching up on the classics now and I love them. The Hobbit is on my list of "must reads"
and for video games, I don't care for them much but if I have to play I love street fighter!

farmgirlshelley wrote:welcome! I am a huge Red Sox fan. I love board games. Yahtzee is one of my favorites. have you chosen a book to read for discussion yet? I think I am going to read Alone. I usually read fiction but this one sounded too good to pass up. I am catching up on the classics now and I love them. The Hobbit is on my list of "must reads"
and for video games, I don't care for them much but if I have to play I love street fighter!

I think when I finish "The Face" by Dean Koontz, I'll be giving it a nice review. I just need one more night off to finish it. Unfortunately, I finally got my PS3 online and hooked up to my Netflix account. Thats been cramping my reading time. I have gotten so into the TV series "Heroes". Someone at work who liked it while it was airing told me some bad news about the series though .