Completely random and non technical

Do you Read Fiction novels/books?

How do you decide what book you want to read?
Recomendation..... random selection??

I have free time available to read a novel and iv read everything i own. But i cant decide what to buy to keep me interested

I've never really been able to stand a Fiction novel/book. I really only read programming books, and science books. Fiction - to me personally - seems unproductive But that's just me.

jsampsonPC wrote:

Fiction - to me personally - seems unproductive

I used to disagree. I used to read harry potter. But it changed fairly suddenly, when i got my hands on .NET [A]

its definatly not unproductive.. it teaches you things you dont even realise.. language, new vocabulary im sure theres more.. stuff you need every day.
And im always reading technical books or web content. i like to be at the very top of my job.
But theres always time for relaxation. some times i play xbox sometimes ill watch tv although generally its crap but the odd thing is ok.

and my other way of relaxing is reading fiction books.
its amazing how fast you can get through a book if its interesting so it doesnt take up as much time as say watching the whole season of Lost and realising it was a complete and utter waste of your time.
Its like taking an exam and never seeing your results
anyway back to my point...
How can one tell if a book is going to be any good.. its not like watching a film, you cant see a preview.. the preview text is usually a tiny snippet which means nothing about the story..Books are cheap so its not a price issue its more i dont want to struggle with a book for 4 hours and end up giving up on it because its naff.

There was a recent thread on who was reading what.  You might get some ideas from that.

Herbie

conkerjoe,

If you want to tell which books will be good, and which ones may not...check the user-reviews on Amazon.com Or, do what I'm guilty of - judge it by its cover

Jonathan

Amazon reviews are amazing.....
NOT!!!!
this is one of the many reasons why i will never listen to amazon reviews
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Princess-Diaries-Royal-Engagement/dp/B0006SJ3F4/sr=8-1/qid=1163080234/ref=pd_ka_1/203-7002508-5448760?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
There are a lot of other reasons but i wont go into that.


Nice one for the "who is reading what" link thanks.
My sort of people sharing what they're currently reading

jsampsonPC wrote:

I've never really been able to stand a Fiction novel/book. I really only read programming books, and science books. Fiction - to me personally - seems unproductive But that's just me.

Yes, I AGREE. Fiction is completely unproductive, a waste of time, talent and energy, and all fiction books should be torched just ala Fahrenheit 451. People who actually write fiction, create fictional characters, and then try to get people to buy their works should also be shipped off to the looney bin.

DarthVista wrote:



jsampsonPC wrote: I've never really been able to stand a Fiction novel/book. I really only read programming books, and science books. Fiction - to me personally - seems unproductive But that's just me.

Yes, I AGREE. Fiction is completely unproductive, a waste of time, talent and energy, and all fiction books should be torched just ala Fahrenheit 451. People who actually write fiction, create fictional characters, and then try to get people to buy their works should also be shipped off to the looney bin.

LMFAO - nuf said

DarthVista wrote:

Yes, I AGREE. Fiction is completely unproductive, a waste of time, talent and energy, and all fiction books should be torched just ala Fahrenheit 451. People who actually write fiction, create fictional characters, and then try to get people to buy their works should also be shipped off to the looney bin.

Isn't it slightly hypocritical to hate fiction, but draw your inspiration from what should be done about it from a work of fiction? You should have referenced Hitler, not Ray Bradbury for inspiration.

jsampsonPC wrote:

I've never really been able to stand a Fiction novel/book. I really only read programming books, and science books. Fiction - to me personally - seems unproductive But that's just me.

Wait...but you watch movies...right? Unless it is a documentary, many of those are based on fiction books. Or is it that it takes too long to read some of them? I'm getting tired of seeing 700-800 page fiction books myself, and often times I'll avoid them.

DarthVista wrote:

Yes, I AGREE. Fiction is completely unproductive, a waste of time, talent and energy, and all fiction books should be torched just ala Fahrenheit 451. People who actually write fiction, create fictional characters, and then try to get people to buy their works should also be shipped off to the looney bin.

Um, yeah.

DarthVista = from Star Wars?
Fahrenheit 451 = a fiction book about censorship, book burning, etc.

jsampsonPC wrote:

Fiction - to me personally - seems unproductive

I totally agree.
For me, it would be a waste of time, although I can understand that some may enjoy fiction for its entertainment value, much like I watch TV.

Personally I dont think fiction is a waste of time.

It brings inspiration, sometimes a fresh perspective is a good thing.

Stephen King; Firestarter

good book.

Pace wrote:



Personally I dont think fiction is a waste of time.

It brings inspiration, sometimes a fresh perspective is a good thing.

Stephen King; Firestarter

good book.

Finally someone who thinks before they speak..
If there were no such thing as fiction books/stories we would all lead a very very boring life. I think people would be surprised as to the effect a good fiction book can have on the world

conkerjoe wrote:

Finally someone who thinks before they speak..

Are you saying I don't think before I speak? Notice I said "FOR ME fiction is unproductive". Not for everybody else I know people like fictional writings, and that's cool.

conkerjoe wrote:

If there were no such thing as fiction books/stories we would all lead a very very boring life. I think people would be surprised as to the effect a good fiction book can have on the world

Fictional Movies are cool. I'm a HUGE StarWars fan. But I can enjoy a fictional movie - 1.5 hours of often amazing video effects and talented actors/actresses is much easier for me to enjoy than a 900p Novel about a Yellow Dog in a barn chasing chickens as Ma and Pa till the ground.

jsampsonPC wrote:


Fictional Movies are cool. I'm a HUGE StarWars fan. But I can enjoy a fictional movie - 1.5 hours of often amazing video effects and talented actors/actresses is much easier for me to enjoy than a 900p Novel about a Yellow Dog in a barn chasing chickens as Ma and Pa till the ground.

Dude... Read better books!

jsampsonPC wrote:



conkerjoe wrote: Finally someone who thinks before they speak..

Are you saying I don't think before I speak? Notice I said "FOR ME fiction is unproductive". Not for everybody else I know people like fictional writings, and that's cool.

conkerjoe wrote: If there were no such thing as fiction books/stories we would all lead a very very boring life. I think people would be surprised as to the effect a good fiction book can have on the world

Fictional Movies are cool. I'm a HUGE StarWars fan. But I can enjoy a fictional movie - 1.5 hours of often amazing video effects and talented actors/actresses is much easier for me to enjoy than a 900p Novel about a Yellow Dog in a barn chasing chickens as Ma and Pa till the ground.

i was actually referring to DarthVista comments.

But how can you compare a Science fiction movie to a Yellow Dog Chasing book.

In my opinion the book for the phantom menace was far superior to the film..
Comparing books to movies (if you like reading fiction) generally the book is much better

I guess it really comes down to the reader, and what they are able to enjoy. Perhaps not all people have the ability to read fiction, and imagine the story as it unfolds in the pages of their book - I certainly fit that profile.

I'm more of a visual person, hence my preference for Movies in the realm of Fiction.

As for my example of a dog chasing chickens on the farm - I generalize all fictional writing with that That's how exciting "fiction" books sound to me. It's wrong, I know