What do you read?
(Any bets on how quickly somebody says the Bible or some other religious text? A good choice, to be sure, but to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of fiction’¦. Unless I laid it on a little strong in the string of catastrophes? Maybe I should have just stuck to catching a cold on a rainy day’¦.)
If I’m feeling really miserable there is nothing that I could read that would make me feel better. I just wouldn’t be able to concentrate on reading; if it was a cheerful or funny book that would make me feel worse and if it was a sad, tragic book that would just pile on the agony.
If it was just a rainy day and I feel a cold coming on that would be different. But I wouldn’t go for “comfort reading”. I’d want a book to interest me and take me out of myself, something I hadn’t read before. There aren’t many books that I actually do re-read as there are so many other books and life is too short to read all the books that catch my eye. I looked through the lists of books I’ve read in the last few years and there are some that I’ve marked “re-read” but only a few that have made it and those were ones that I hadn’t read for some years and it was like reading new books, although I knew where they were going and it was the details of getting there that I’d forgotten. This means that I could more slowly and actually enjoy the writing.
BooksPlease 
On many respects I agree with you. I go for a movie rather than a book if I’m down because I don’t have to concentrate on it. I also don’t re-read books very often.
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That’s all so true!
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I agree. There are too many books. So one should not feel bad re-reading. I don’t. I have a pile of books, I re-read.
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If I was really ill or down, a film rather than a book would be the way I’d probably go, too, because I wouldn’t have the concentration for reading.
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I’m with you. If I’m really depressed, I can’t concentrate on a book. I just crawl under the covers and cry it out! Happy Thursday!
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I too don’t tend to go for either cheerful or sad. Instead I just go for distracting—like adventure or something similar. I tend to pick a “brain candy” book though (one that doesn’t require much thought) since I know I’ll be distracted!
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Must admit I find it impossible to imagine not re-reading, but then I’m a bit obsessive! And I can’t see why anyone should re-read if they don’t want to – books are for fun, aren’t they?
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You just summed up my philosophy on re-reading books!
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Even though I like the idea of re-reading a book, I never find the time. Too many books being published. Like you wrote: I probably would go watch a movie too.
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I think I agree with your point here. I would be too depressed to read anything too, but I have always had books around me since I was a kid. And books always comfort me no matter how depressed I will be. And if not books, I turn to watching old favorite movies :)Great answers! Happy BTT!
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I agree. And if things are too bad for me, I’d just cry it out or watch some funny movies.
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I don’t re-read many books either and like you, if I do, it’s been a long time since I’ve read them to begin with. My BTT is up.
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There are books I have JUST to re-read when the mood strikes, and then there is the stack of books unread. But I read fairly quickly. Btw, love your blog, and am adding you to my blogroll. Hope you don’t mind.
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Thanks for all your comments. Like most of you I could probably manage a film if I felt really down, but it would have to be a DVD – I don’t think I’d be able to drag myself out to the cinema.
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My answer was very similar to yours in a couple ways. :) But most of all, there’s no way a book could cheer me up if all those awful things happened!
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