The Online Home of Author Chad Lutzke
  • Home
  • About
  • Published Work
  • Cover Design
  • Blog: Write-Brained Leftovers
  • Contact
  • Bleeding Page Podcast
  • AI artwork

Tidbits Vs. Door Stoppers:  When I Finally Started To Read

8/10/2014

16 Comments

 
I've mentioned before that I blame my school for my complete disinterest in books growing up.  If it wasn't Fangoria, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Cracked, Mad or the latest metal zine, I just wasn't interested.  Apparently the only--though crucial--criteria for this teenage brain was visuals. 

When, by the time I was 14, the only literature thrown my way was Diary of Anne Frank, Romeo & Juliet, and All is Quiet on the Western Front, can you blame me for raising my nose from the pages of a gore-filled centerfold only long enough to say "No thanks!" ?  Your average teen in the 80s wasn't running for the library shelves in hopeful anticipation of getting the latest world war tale or a romance set in a time completely unrelated to their own in a language that may as well have been Klingon. 

I remember my biological father sending a small stack of Andre Norton books all the way from the Mile High City.  The covers were appealing, but I couldn't sit still long enough to read them...and of course they failed to meet my criteria (still have them; never read one).  He also sent me a copy of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, which I did end up reading but not until I was well into my 20s (great book...don't bother with the movie).

There was one book that almost got me reading.  In the very late 70s/early 80s there was the phenomenon known as The Amityville Horror.  Jay Anson had written a book about the "true events"  surrounding the Lutz family (ironic eh?) who were the residents/owners of an alleged haunted house.  They were proclaiming what every imaginative teen longed to hear:  Ghosts were real and were haunting houses.  With the rising popularity of the Doubleday Book Club, my mother had purchased the book to sit along with the other dust collectors on the shelf.  Not quite old enough to watch the movie, I took to the book.  I "read" it much like one would read the bible:  Searching it for tidbits.  I thoroughly scanned the book for any and all frightening paragraphs reading them over and over again.  I'd like to think I actually read the book but in a way one would fast forward through a movie only to watch the good parts. 
In my late teens I did end up reading a few Clive Barker and Stephen King short stories, but by this time in my life the scales were different.  Go skateboarding....or read?  Go to band practice....or read?  Hang with girlfriend....or read?  Other than the occasional short story (and I mean short.  I'd pick up Skeleton Crew or Books of Blood and make sure to read the shortest one only), reading would have to continue to wait. 

Something happened in my early 20s, and I thought I wanted to be a teacher (Yeah, not sure what I was thinking).  After a semester and a half, I quit school.  I sucked at  writing papers.  You'd get ADD just reading them.  I was all over the place.  No wonder I didn't read.  Soon after, I actually started reading books; in particular lots of Dean Koontz and Stephen King.  Heck, I recall the year I started, I read Needful Things in 3-4 days.  Have you seen that thing?  It's a door stopper.  Other than maybe It and The Stand, it's the War & Peace of horror.  Quite the trophy for this new reader. 
Now that the interest is there, there's not enough time in my day to read like I used to.  Work, family, and writing leaves little time to escape into that story.  I know I'm not alone.  In an age where everyone is used to having it our way, RIGHT NOW, it can be asking a lot from yourself to sit down and relax between the pages (virtual or not) of a good book.  I would encourage you to make the time.  Kick it old school.  Read that book you've been putting off.
Picture

Announcement:  You can now purchase the Kindle version of my story "One for the Road" for only $0.99.  Don't have a Kindle?  No problem.  Kindle offers a free app for iPhones, iPad, Mac, PC, Android, and Blackberry.



16 Comments
John Q.
8/10/2014 01:35:25 pm

Makes you wonder had your school given you books to read that you were interested just how many you would have read and how much different your college experience may have gone. Nice post!

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 05:30:32 am

Some good friends of mine went to another school in town and they were avid readers; however, they were Tolkien and Poe in their English classes. Go figure!

Reply
Tev Cubben
8/10/2014 01:38:13 pm

I remember the Amytiville Horror. It was an exciting time to be interested in things like ghosts. Never read the book but the movie sure was scary!

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 05:31:36 am

At that time in my life hearing about ghost stories that could be true was like hearing about Santa sightings for a 4 year old.

Reply
Scout Ringle
8/10/2014 10:50:54 pm

Would love to see them make a GOOD movie of I Am Legend

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 05:32:28 am

Well, they've tried three times now. I'd say this last was the worst and farthest from the actual book.

Reply
Lori M.
8/11/2014 02:44:44 am

I miss those book clubs you could sign up for in the back of magazines. Long live Doubleday! :)

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 05:33:13 am

Something about getting an entire box of brand new books was stimulating indeed!

Reply
Samm
8/11/2014 07:24:08 am

You should read those Norton books...you may like them!

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 01:14:02 pm

Thanks Samm! I think they may be a bit young for me now but perhaps I could read them to my youngest.

Reply
Martin F.
8/11/2014 12:32:51 pm

I got your story.......loved it man!

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 01:14:28 pm

I truly appreciate that, Martin. Thank you for the praise!

Reply
S.T. Edmonton
8/11/2014 01:09:17 pm

The more I think about it, the more I think perhaps our public school system fed us the same drivel and as a result I hated reading. Hmm...You may be onto something here

Reply
Chad
8/11/2014 01:15:14 pm

S.T. See, now this is why you should be reading my blog ;)

Reply
Donnie
8/13/2014 12:20:08 pm

Magazines and comics is all I read until my senior year I believe.

Reply
Chad
8/13/2014 12:47:04 pm

Wish I could say that's when I started reading ;)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    December 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Proudly powered by Weebly