USA->A utopia or dystopia for bibliophiles?

Hehe. I'm early today and my pensieve is still asleep.
Wakey-wakey,pensieve...time to get to work much earlier tonight. Now,now,no grumbling, there's nothing you can do about it, my dear Penny. Hey! Come to think of it, I like that name! Calling you pensieve,pensieve is rather cumbersome. From now on, you are Penny, whether you like it or not.

So,what shall I talk about today? First of all, I think I will have to keep it shorter than I've been doing. Perhaps I'll divide it into parts and spread it across a couple of blogs, if necessary.

Ok, I'll talk about something that is actually close to my heart(unlike research!! :P) Anyone who has been my friend for even a short time can probably tell what it is.

It is books.

And before you totally misjudge me, lemme make it clear that I am not talking about books that have the faintest chance of telling me anything that might be useful for my studies.

In fact, the farther away from real life these books are, the better.I get enough of real life everyday. When I am with my books, I want to escape it all. I love the wizards who do magic, the armies that charge at each other and tear each other apart, the politics that people ensue in, the heroes, the villains, the brave, the cowards....I am getting carried away.

Anyway, you get the idea. Not surprisingly, my favorite genre is therefore sci-fi/fantasy. Call what I do escapism, I don't care. I consider it a great safety-valve to release all the steam that's built up throughout life.
For some time it is just great to forget about grades, research, politics of personal life, everything....just immerse myself into the life of others and share their joys and sorrows. To hell with everything else!

Hmm...I went a bit off-track there. That is not what I wanted to write about.

The thing I wanted to discuss was how reading habits are affected by the people around you.

When I came to the US, I had all these ideas about how I'll read much more once I come here, considering the wonderful libraries and bookshops this place had.

Hasn't quite worked out that way.

I was absolutely right about the libraries and bookshops part. I can get pretty much any book I want here. In fact, in the first week, I got to read two books which I had been looking for about a year in India. I was delighted.

Things have changed since then. My reading frequency(and consequently speed) has gone down tremendously. Whereas I would read 3-4 books in a week earlier, I typically read only 1 nowadays.

The reason I have pinpointed for this is one that I didn't even know was a factor.
I think that it is because of the people around me. When I was back in India, a major factor in reading books were the friends around you who would recommend books and whom you would recommend books to. It would be like, I would say-"I am reading this book, it is awesome". This other guy would say-"Oh, you liked that one? Then try this, you'll like this too". That's how I would move from novel to novel.

Here, I read a book, perhaps I enjoy it,perhaps I don't. But the question is, what next? How do I choose the next one? I go to websites, try to find some book reviews but I find that they really aren't all that illuminating. I mean, most books will be liked by someone or the other, the info I want is whether they are my type or not, which is very difficult to gather from book reviews. That feedback can only be provided by people whom I know and whose taste I can evaluate.

And it's not only just choosing a book. Half the fun was discussing the book with other people once you've read it. Scoffing at people who didn't like a book you loved, looking up at ppl. who finished a book which you couldn't get through, discussing various interpretations of the same thing and other stuff like that.

And unfortunately, this place is severely lacking enough people to do all this with.
Most people don't have time to read fiction stuff and those who do certainly don't have time to discuss it or recommend it to anyone else.

And this is what has put brakes on my reading. I find that I have to drive myself to read now, instead of like before, when I tried to read every minute I could.

Which is very sad. I also realise that this change cannot be solely due to external factors, there must be something which drove me to read earlier and I have lost now. I guess that's true with most people here, which is why they have stopped reading.

All in all, this situation sucks.

Ok, enough whining for today. I need to put a song now.
I'll put a song that can also be put into context of my remarks today but is in general a song that I love when I feel I need a boost in life. It is by Survivor and it is the only song of theirs that anyone has probably heard, but boy, what a song!!!! It was also the Rocky theme song,by the way.

Risin' up, back on the street
Took my time, took my chances
Went the distance
Now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip
On the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge
Of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And his fortune must always be
Eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds
Still we take to the street
For the kill with the skill to survive

Risin' up straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance
Now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge
Of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And his fortune must always be
Eye of the tiger.

- Survivor

If you like the lyrics, you should listen to them with the song-it's awesome.

So,long folks.