I Read a Book!
In the world of click bait, most people use a catchy fake title to rope people into clicking their article.
| The Book | |
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I was on Twitter, yes I'm now on Twitter :) when I saw this:
Individuals/marketers use this sneaky method to lure you to read their article or watch their video, by using a misleading, topic, image or phrase.
I know you hate it, so do I.
But as weird as my clickbaity title sounds I just read a book. It's a straightforward self-explanatory title. I know the title is simple enough to tell you what I did. I read every day, but the bulk of it is either on a mobile phone or a PC.
The ones written on paper, that I read, are not books. You may not see this as a big deal. But it was to me. The last time I read a book had been a long time ago. Don't you read books in school? You may ask. Yes, I do. What then is special about this that we cannot read better news like Kylie Jenner's rumored pregnancy? Yeah, I can't remember the last time I read a book just for the fun of it.
For quite some time most books I read are for academics and other official ones. Calculating and memorizing formulas. But today I read a real book as I raided my dad's old bookshelf.
There is something special about reading a hard copy of a book as against reading it online. The book is old and smelt musty. It had holes in it which makes reading both exasperating and fun as moths have successfully eaten off some portions of the book which makes your brain kick into overdrive to try to guess missing words.
Sherlock Holmes would have been very proud of me today.
The musty smell of this old book by W. Somerset Maugham titled The Magician reminded of some of my Dad's stories. How they used to write letters to the admirers and spraying some lovely romantic perfumes on the paper. There is even a company that makes scented paper. But he told me he prefers to spray his. Lol
Isn't that romantic?
Imagine receiving a perfumed letter from that admirer with him showing off his grammatical expertise, by writing you a romantic letter with, of course, an Oxford Dictionary beside him.
It sure beats a generic chat/SMS with smileys of today.
I would now tell you a little about the book. The book is about a magician, Oliver Haddo, that used his magical powers to marry an aspiring doctor's fiancé (Margaret Dauncey) as a revenge for a punch the doctor (Arthur Burdon) gave him for kicking a dog.
W. Somerset Maugham is a damn good writer, now I could understand my Dad's fascination with his works. Take a moment and read a book today. It sure is fun.
Before I go, I have a little question for you. When last did you pick a hard copy of a book and finished reading it? What is the book's title and what is the story about? Bye
What do you think? Please, I value feedback, do leave me one on the comment section below.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Regards,
@greenrun ... still running :)
I like your post.
i am very happy to see people reading ..
Thank you very much. I read everyday online. Being a while I read a hard copy.
I really like you. I will follow you every day. Make me a friend near you.🙏🙏🙏
That's lovely. Thank you
means we will always complement each other.
Thank
I don't know your age but once books were all we had, no internet. So delightful to read your post and know not only your dad has those books but you read them. A mind among digital heads can be a rare occurrence indeed. resteeming out of respect for this post. Well done.
Thank you very much. I used to read hard copies of books, before the internet became a thing. With the internet I stopped reading the hard copies of book. Thanks for the resteem. I appreciate it.
Nice reminder @greenrun ! I have 3 books which are by my bed and I have started all 3, but for some reason I must be super distracted (hello politics on twitter). I need to stop that miserable habit.
So has anyone read any of these...I am not sure which one will come first.
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ALso, just for fun from our bookshelves...
Here are my father-in-law's books from when he was a child in the 1920s. There are some real classics here. I'm afraid to open these for certain they would fall apart!
And here is a small collection of my favorites from when I was little:
Thanks @greenrun, that was fun :-)
You have a well stocked bookshelf. My dad's used to be like this before most of his friends "borrowed" and never returned them.
It is certainly nice to hold on to some old favorites, but perhaps think of it this way...maybe the friend passed along the book, and then he/she pssed on the book, and on and on. That would be a good thing :-)
That's exactly the way he sees it as he never asks for them back!
Awesome post. I read The Magician too. I really enjoyed the way Maugham captured all the emotions known to man. You could almost feel the happiness, agony and fear of the characters in his book.
Keep reading and have a lovely day.
Thank you. Just resteemed one of your story. It's interesting.
Wow... Back in the day, I was such an unmitigated reader of anything that comes my way. Life's struggles and responsibilities just took this awesome habit away. Just today I still gave a reminiscent comment on how used to read books on the past. I believe stumbling on this now is a call to action for me. Thanks
It was fun reading a hard copy. My eyes also felt a little better. Hehehe
Reading the printed word. How 20th-century. And I approve wholeheartedly!
Reading digital text, and particularly text found on the internet, is very convenient and can be very educational and informative. There's so much there and there's always more to look up and look into.
But therein lies one of the reasons that I still prefer reading a book or a magazine. When I read something online, I find myself straying from whatever is in front of me. On the other hand, if I'm sitting by the pool or in a cafe or in my easy chair, I'm essentially offline, and I can immerse myself in the story or the article.
Interestingly, when I'm reading the printed word, I find that I often come across topics that I want to discover more about. So, I jot the topic in the margins or on a scrap of paper. Soon enough, I'm back online, and I can google whatever has piqued my interest. But I was offline long enough to expose myself to some of the great writing that never makes it onto the net.
So, to paraphrase the title of this post ... Read a Book!
That's a very smart way to read a book. Thank you for taking out time to reply this post. I do appreciate every comment made here
Great post!! My wife is an avid hard cover reader and I don't believe she'll switch over to a kindle even if I pay her!! There really is something special about reading a printed book. Anyway, marketers, ugh, manipulators, lol. Utilized in a positive way though i.e. this post, awesome :):)
Lol at she wouldn't switch over to kindle even if paid! That's dedication right there.
I enjoy reading real books than reading it online or from a gadget. It's so natural.
Well written article. You must have been a blogger before joining steemit.
Thanks a lot. My first attempt on blogging is on steemit. Never owned a blog. I appreciate the efforts of trail blazers like you guys.
This was a fun post to read @greenrun. I used to love holding books to read, but then when moving, it was hard to take them all with me, so got a kindle, and then a second one when that broke, and now I have steemit to read on. Most of my reading was done purely for self entertainment, not to better myself. I loved/love fantasy, sci-fi and end of the world stories. But I like to read other kinds of stories to. If it is well written, it is worth reading,(heck some not so well written stories) are also worth reading. I think I have only ever not finished one book. And it was just terribly written. Seems like your father influenced your reading, for me it was my mother that had that effect on me. Read-on and Steemon @greenrun, and have a fine day.
Hard copies are going extinct. Hehe. The computer has taken over.
Fact that you read a book means you're one of the awakened ones WOOO
Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.