tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post1056800387328749592..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: Stringer on Learning To Read Like a ChildLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-63351584972128596482010-01-13T16:50:04.878-05:002010-01-13T16:50:04.878-05:00SC,
That's why I carry those big golf umbrell...SC,<br /><br />That's why I carry those big golf umbrellas whenever it's raining outside. If I discover I'm suddenly unencumbered that means I must've left it somewhere.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-8629733240031402652010-01-13T15:39:30.307-05:002010-01-13T15:39:30.307-05:00Eh, I like a bag I can't forget because it'...Eh, I like a bag I can't forget because it's literally attached to me. I'd have locked myself out of more buildings and spent probably literal years smacking my forehead and running back inside (and also been cited for driving without a license) if I hadn't had my waistpack.<br /><br />Plus, it's just the right size for a paperback, barring Tad Williams-esque thousand-page monstrosities. FWIW, I also often carry a messenger bag, too, but that's for RPG books and spiral notebooks.Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-56610831967225089862010-01-13T15:04:04.411-05:002010-01-13T15:04:04.411-05:00B.,
You, sir, are prescient. Did you know that?B.,<br /><br />You, sir, are prescient. Did you know that?Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-82506446989195543032010-01-13T10:49:37.212-05:002010-01-13T10:49:37.212-05:00I carry a messenger bag back and forth to work. A...I carry a messenger bag back and forth to work. And yes, my father does call it a purse. But it affords convenient storage for books (school/work-related or no), pens, key and sundries without the inconvenience and stigma of a backpack. It's also a bit more fashion forward than a fannypack.<br /><br />In regards to the actual post, the author has to meet me halfway. I am willing to accept the book as a true story and dive in <i>if</i> the author will present it as a story worth diving in to. <br /><br />I'd also recommend audiobooks for those in-between-moments, but those aren't quite as easy to put away. You end up sitting in your car for several extra minutes or with your earbuds plugged in while you work at your desk.B. Nagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07620736939701035617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-17966700527072821932010-01-13T09:28:01.430-05:002010-01-13T09:28:01.430-05:00I think my wife's head would do a Linda Blair ...I think my wife's head would do <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qG5V2iBvFs" rel="nofollow">a Linda Blair</a> if she caught me wearing a fanny pack. (She's far more fashion conscious than myself.) I knew I had to wait in a store yesterday -- perfect reading opportunity -- so I tucked my hardcover under my arm to carry it inside. A little awkward, but reading requires sacrifices, eh?Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-17740999571417603242010-01-13T05:23:11.061-05:002010-01-13T05:23:11.061-05:00One downside of carrying a book everywhere is that...One downside of carrying a book everywhere is that the most convenient method involves a fanny-pack. I have never cared a whit about appearances, but I have gathered over the years that this is not a common fashion accessory.Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-61511040649304436922010-01-11T20:44:56.896-05:002010-01-11T20:44:56.896-05:00SC,
I've gotten pickier, too, and that was pa...SC,<br /><br />I've gotten pickier, too, and that was part of the reason for The Middle Shelf. I wanted to whittle down to the authors I truly love. But sometimes those even feel tone deaf to me. Then again, it has been a challenging six months.<br /><br />I really like your idea of carrying a book around. Too often I find myself listening to disposable music on the radio or surfing silly Web sites. Ten minutes of reading while waiting on hold strikes me as a much better use of time.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-27218508464377622662010-01-11T18:50:58.293-05:002010-01-11T18:50:58.293-05:00I've gotten pickier about who does this for me...I've gotten pickier about who does this for me, but I still find myself reading till the wee hours if I have a good book (and then lamenting NOT having it for the boring day at work the following morning.) Getting by on two hours of sleep can be done, so long as one doesn't make a habit of it. It's a price I'm quite happy to pay, and have been ever since elementary school. I also routinely carry a book with me at all times and will whip it out if I have to spend more than thirty seconds with nothing else to do. Waiting for food in restaurants, at line in stores, for the car's oil to be changed... an average day is filled with five, ten, twenty-minute gaps in which one must find some way to amuse oneself while nothing else is going on. If I find myself with a book lasting me longer than a week, then it's a sign that I don't actually like that book very much.<br /><br />I dunno. Maybe I'm just naturally immature. :-DScattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-32600238249134864262010-01-11T16:29:16.418-05:002010-01-11T16:29:16.418-05:00Davin,
Thanks! You know, it's always been ind...Davin,<br /><br />Thanks! You know, it's always been individual authors who bring that joy for me, too. When it comes now, it tends to be blunted by evaluation, but I still love how William Gibson turns a phrase or Ray Bradbury writes a short story that's both elegaic and sentimental.<br /><br />My own stuff either prompts unrealistic pride or despair, delusions of granduer or a desire to sell all my earthly possessions and move to the North Pole. Usually the later.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-88132719446543587112010-01-11T16:21:20.123-05:002010-01-11T16:21:20.123-05:00Patti,
I'm not entirely sure how one recovers...Patti,<br /><br />I'm not entirely sure how one recovers that joy, particularly with all the responsibilities of adulthood pressing in. I know I sure miss it.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-43025081621759829412010-01-11T15:11:41.563-05:002010-01-11T15:11:41.563-05:00Great post. It took me awhile, but I do think I...Great post. It took me awhile, but I do think I've gotten back to this place with many authors. It is on an author-by-author case, though. I think the best writers can still pull me in to the point where craft is invisible again. <br /><br />When I started writing, my goal was to be able to read and enjoy my own stories. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do that, but I hope so.Davin Malasarnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09385823575081492949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-72504262872966361632010-01-11T12:25:45.334-05:002010-01-11T12:25:45.334-05:00I have been thinking about the same thing a lot la...I have been thinking about the same thing a lot lately. How to sink wholeheartedly into a book and place it above all else. I think we were all better readers when we did this.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com