I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was convince people that finishing books is a competitive sport. You don't need to read 52 books a year. You just need to read. Books you like. At your own pace. And think about them for longer than a TikTok video.
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@Daojoan Currently reading LOTR again. I've read it every five - seven years since I was twelve. I like it.
@Daojoan A great experience last year was following a "Let's Read" on Something Awful forums (no, seriously) where a group of people went through a notoriously difficult series of books, two chapters a week, over the course of a year and a half. I had to drop off at times after hitting the rate limit (as a reader, not a participant).
@Daojoan I never thought of it this way. Shamefully, not being able to read as quickly as other people on top of the tone that if I'm not reading books I'm rotting my brain kind of put me off. I made imaginary rules that I need to be reading every night to be productive and healthy or something. It sounds so dumb when I write that 😅 I never said my thoughts were logical 😅
This feels like permission to relax. Thanks
I have been sadden by folk posting their book reading count, and worse, beating themselves up if they did not reach their arbitrary goals.
Far more important, can you remember what the book was about? Was there a passage, or a storyline that moved you? Do you have new insight into another culture? Do you have new burning desires to visit someplace far away, or sit in a cafe and hear everyone around you speaking in languages you do not know.
I want to know the name of that book.
@Daojoan I think the urge to gamify activities is older than the Internet - but it certainly hasn't gotten better since.
@Daojoan even reading getting commodified :hurb:
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Daojoan/116159038233549644
@Daojoan I genuinely think the worst thing the internet did to reading was Amazon.com.
@Daojoan Wow, that is well said and so true. Thank you
@Daojoan No. The worst thing the internet did to reading was shortening ideas to the length of a social media post. You are in rarefied circles if the people you a surrounded by are competitively reading. The people I'm around brag, BRAG, about how few books they've read. Social posts from other semiliterates is high literature to these- and most- folks.
@Daojoan is like a tobacco junkie needing to smoke 3 packs each day
@Daojoan @RalphBassfeld I did the 52 books in one year thing once. Just to have done it. I agree with Joan's post!
@Daojoan All while school generally focusses on what is measurable - grammar - killing interest and blinding children to the sheer joy of reading for pleasure.
Do no head teachers ever question teaching perverted by testing?
A Chinese boy I played Go with online loved chatting with me as conversational English was a profound release from intense grammar focus in China.
@Daojoan I am teaching an afterschool "Immersive Book Club" this semester for my 3-5 grade kids. We have a chart in the classroom that starts with "Its okay to give up on a book."
I cant believe how many kids found this concept to be shocking.
@Daojoan The stack of books at my bedside won't read themselves unless I make goals regarding reading time. (hour a day at the very least) I also belong to a book club, so I try to have the book of the month read for discussion purposes.
I think the rise in audio books has a lot to do with this. I'm not convinced people are "reading" as much as we used to.
And that's not a slight on audio books, btw.
@RVLara23 @Daojoan if I can "read" a book while biking or driving a car (safely), talking a walk or doing chores - that's a superpower. Even if my comprehension isn't as good, that's still way better than not engaging with a book at all!
Sometimes I use text to speech to read me articles or papers or other written media I am researching (or just enjoying casually). And some audiobooks are just incredible works of art, bringing my beloved books to life in a very new way.
Shoutout to #LibriVox !
@Daojoan Now with AI we all can pretend like we read a book every day.
@Daojoan I am very late in the game joining social media. Often people would ask me how I could stay informed. I did not understand the question. I read books (fiction and various nonfiction), read articles (not only the headlines), listen to a variety of public radio broadcasts and podcasts. I was also aware of most of the silly memes. I really appreciated your comment about the value of reading books.
@Daojoan important is quality not quantity
@Daojoan personally I try to review most of them in writing, and keep a list just for myself. Various views on the counting trend in this recent Guardian piece: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/feb/21/last-year-i-read-137-books-could-setting-targets-help-you-put-down-your-phone-and-pick-up-a-book
@Daojoan
Was anyone convinced of that?
@Photo55 @Daojoan yes!! especially when using apps like goodreads or storygraph. i used to blog/post on instagram about books, the culture was really about reading as *many* books as you could, even if you didn’t like them. it’s still very much the same, on goodreads and especially on booktok. it sounds really silly but realising that i could read 15 good books a year rather than 50-100 mediocre ones was quite revolutionary 😅😅
@Daojoan
There was a Polish social campaign that stated “You don't read I'm not going to bed with you.”
(Supposedly based on a John Waters quote that I couldn't find a primary source for on a glance.)
Edit: I misremembered the exact slogan of the campaign having “books” in it.
Referring generally to reading, not just books, is a better stance.
Full ack. It always enrages me when my e-book reader announces that I have been on a reading streak. I would have been on a reading streak without this "nudging", but I feel that trying to keep me doing something I would have done anyway out of inclination is trying to devalue my reading. Sort of "you are (only) reading to stay in the reading streak, and we know it's hard for you, so we try to help you by telling you 'good boy'".
Also: I I haven't read for a day, maybe I have been thinking? So WTF, e-book reader.
It's just trying to psych you into buying more books, on it. Sales pitch.
@Edelruth
I... Do people need help acquiring more books?
@glitzersachen @Daojoan
@Daojoan Thank you for saying that!
@Daojoan you can even stop reading a book you don’t enjoy, or read a book you like several times.
Mad I know.
@glitzersachen @Nicovel0 @Daojoan
Ha! The moving pictures are there, just in my head, not the real world.