READING QUESTION

In this age of immediate gratification and faster means better, do you think that abridgments are required to make certain that the classics continue to be read?  Do you think that it is a good thing or a bad thing? Have you ever read an abridged edition simply because the original was "too long"?

Mainly because I love the written word, I make every effort to avoid abridgments.  I want to absorb the words that the author wrote just the way they wrote it.  Whose to  say that an abridgment didn't leave out a critical part. However, because of the lack of interest in reading  for many in the younger generation (video games and movies are more their interests) having them read even an abridged version is better than not reading at all.  I just hope that there never comes a time when Harry Potter is abridged.  As long as authors like J.K.Rowling, Rick Riordan, and George RR Martin (to name a few) continue to write, we may be able to develop readers in the younger generations.  As for me, I'll still plug through the classics one at a time, full length.

I will admit that as a child I read abridged versions of stories.  In my tween years , there was a book discussion group for us call the Great Books of the Western world and we read abridged versions.  But I think that only made me want to read the entire book if I liked the shortened version.  My father was the leader of the discussion group so we were reading the same book together.  Guess that's why I like book groups too.

So what about you, full length or abridged?  And if it's a chunkster, does reading it with someone help to get you through?

Reading Question

Have you ever chosen a book just because of the title?
If so, what about the title drew you too it?

I personally have been drawn to a book simply because of the title.

I am an arctophile - that's someone who loves teddy bears. My husband calls me Princess. so when I saw the title "The Princess and the Bear" I had to read it. It was a juvenile/Young Adult novel. It was well-written, sort of a fairy tale for the older kids with good lessons to learn. So chosing a book by its title is not a bad thing.

How about you? What books have you chosen by the title and were you surprised by what you got?

Question about your reading #1

Club Read at LibraryThing have asked several question about their reading. I never notice the thread before, but when I read some of the question I was wondering what others out here thought. So I will ask some of the questions that I find personally interesting and hope that any visitors will let me know what they think.

Looking over the last 50 or so books you have read, which book presented its action on the smallest stage?
Tell us about it. Why that particular stage?

I looked at the books that I have read in the last 5 months - 56 books and realized that most had a very wide stage but one was extremely narrow. The book - Tuesdays with Morrie. The stage was mostly Morrie's apartment. I had to think about how the "stage" effected the story and recognized that the size of the stage in this book was vital. Morrie's life which had been so vibrant was being ended by a disease that cut into his vitality and caused him to be a shut-in. As his life dwindled down so did the amount of space in the apartment that he would occupy. Definitely, the "stage" was a vital portion of the story.

So what about the books that you've read? Has the "stage" played a major role?