BTT: What is Reading, Fundamentally?

Suggested by: Thisisnotabookclub

What is reading, anyway? Novels, comics, graphic novels, manga, e-books, audiobooks — which of these is reading these days? Are they all reading? Only some of them? What are your personal qualifications for something to be “reading” — why? If something isn’t reading, why not? Does it matter? Does it impact your desire to sample a source if you find out a premise you liked the sound of is in a format you don’t consider to be reading? Share your personal definition of reading, and how you came to have that stance.

(Two weeks late for Reading is Fundamental week, but, well…)

To me books are a way to share information, stories, facts.

There is nothing quite like holding a book in your hands and letting your eyes skip across the words below, and imagining the story alive while reading. However, I do enjoy audiobooks for the reasons that sometimes you are in a situation where you can't focus on a book but have the time to listen to a story (like long car trips, or a daily bus commute). Mangas and comics are graphic forms of story telling, they still engage your mind while reading them.

Of all the formats listed, the ones I don't really take part in are e-books. I have trouble with headaches caused by too much time staring at the screen on a regular computer. The newer reading devices are nice (I've gotten to play with a Sony E-reader) but as nice as they are it's just not the same as holding a book in your hands and flipping through the story in print format.