@ Sisi-Kill
Yes, I remember 'Time Changes Yesterday'. It was written by Nyengi Koin I think. It was one of the compulsory literature books I read in JSS 3. . . .very interesting novel. . .aaah, I still remember how little Enitan went about matchmaking her dad and her teacher, lol

@ topic
I read as if my life depended on it back in sec schl. I still recall how I bought Sidney Sheldon's Doomsday Conspiracy and used it to exchange, borrow and read all the Sheldon's that were in circulation in my school then. Name it, I read all the known foreign authors from Enid Blyton, Carolyn Keene (of Nancy Drew fame), James Hardley Chase, Sidney Sheldon, Robert Ludlum, Jackie Collins, Harold Robbins, Danielle Steele, Judith McNaught, Jeffrey Archer, Frederick Forsyth etc. As in, I read every back then. I recall there was a Jeffrey Archer novel (The 11th Commandment) that my elder brother borrowed from a friend when I was in JSS 3. He had only 2 days to read it and he said he was returning it unfailingly on the 2nd day. He dropped the book when he finished reading it around 8pm at night. . . . I then picked up the book and read it overnite without sleeping cos he was returning it in themorning. . .Yes, I was that FANATICAL back then. As for those pacesetters like Mark of the Cobra by Valentine Alilly, Coup by Kalu Okpi, The Worshippers by Victor Thorpe etc, the African Writer Series novels and other African novels by other publishers. . .I read most of them during the long hols between school in the village cos my Dad's Library was stocked with these novels. Now, I hardly read anymore as I'm addicted to browsing and watching movies. . . . .aah, so SAD. I wish I could go back to those days when I read a lot but I know it ain't possible. . .no time, lol

NOW; LETS FACE IT: AS SOME ONE SAID B4, [i][/i] TIME CHANGES YESTERDAY.
WHAT AM GETIN AT HERE IS; THE PROBLEM IS NOT SO MUCH ABOUT THE READING CULTURE DYING, AS IT IS ABT THE TIMES CHANGING AND WE NOT REACTING ADEQUATELY. WE NEED TO UPDATE OUR CONTENT AND CONTENT MEDIUM.

COME TO THINK OF IT- WE ARE ALL TALKING OF THE BOOKS WE READ GROWING UP IN THE 80S' AS WERE WRITEN IN THE 60S' AND 70S' (on the home front i mean), IT WILL ONLY BE FAIR THEN TO EXPECT THOSE GROWING IN THE 90S' AND 00S' TO READ BOOKS WRITTEN IN THE 80S' AND EVEN 90S'. WHICH OBVIOUSLY SHOULDN'T HAVE THE SAME CONTENTS AND MEDIUM AS IN THE LATER. BUT REGRETABLY, WE DIDN'T LIVE UP TO THAT BIDDING, THE MOVIES, XBOX, PHONES( i miss them old school letters) etc. TOOK OVER.

SOLUTION.

WE WRITE NEW CONTENTS THAT THIS GENERATION CAN EASILY IDENTIFY WITH. CONSIDERING OUR SHORT ATTENTION SPAN, WE CAN START BY BLOGGING SHORT STORIES   (LOL) LIKE IN THE DAYS OF 'AFRICAN NIGHT ENTERTAINMENT' AND CO.

BUT EITHER WAY ITS QUITE PATHETIC   OUR DYING READING HABIT, I MEAN!

It is no longer a Nigerian problem but a western one too. My experience as a teacher in the UK has opened my eyes to the serious lack of motivation to read by students. If you give them a task and ask them to read the instructions and answer questions thereafter what you keep hearing is " Sir, oh it's long", "it's boring". They literally expect you to tell them what to do from start to finish - basically you just find yourself spoon-feeding them. As mentioned earlier, the explosion of modern day technology is proving more of a hindrance than a help to engaging young people. Over reliance on technology in the long-run will ultimately reduce the intellectual capacity for producing tomorrow's doctors, engineers, teachers, nurses etc.

@Str8talk,

thanks.

I guess its alot of our culture at stake here. well transfer al d books to the computer. Its called e-reading!

@chase2

u have very good gramatic composure in your post

keep it up

Hey, thanks posters there is hope yet if this thread got this long! I thought everyone was fooling around in the romance thread.

OP,

I read ROOTS before the movie was released. The movie, in my opinion, was crap compared to the details in the book.

One reason why the book culture dropped, in Phc, was as a result of book prices going higher whereas the price of video players/tapes were crashing

@semid4lyfe, Yeah, goodone, but browsing is kinda different. And yes I read a massive novel in one day cos the owner wanted it back the next. I think it was by Sheldon too, about gold In South Africa.

can't really recall how many times i read the NARROW PATH, THE BURNING BUSH, FAR FROM THE MADDENING CROWD - Thomas Hardy and so many other interesting books. It actually paid off.

Books made into movies are never as good because there are things which can't be captured even by the best of all actors.

What some fail to understand is that words allow you to engage your imagination. . .i don't know about you but for me, there is nothing wilder than the imagination no matter how brilliant the director, he can never match what you pictured when reading the book.

This is why i'm not a big fan of adapted from a novel movies.

@ semid4lyfe
Thanks for the info. Maybe i won't kill you after all.

Hustle and bustle happened to the reading culture

Hi,

Its true that our reading culture is on the decline, and frankly many factors are to blame for this. that not withstanding though, all hands must be on deck to protect one of mankind's greatest inventions; the ability to represent and recognize ideas in the written form.

You can find a couple of FREE books at this site. www.greatbooks.350.com

most parents are all work and no books, so who has time to read to their children!

it is so bad that some parents do not remember their wards have assignments!

it is PS all the way, or better put, ALL PATHS LEAD TO THE SITTING ROOM(MTV to be precise!),

who wants to read when there is always 'inje' or 'micro-chips' to pass examinations?

you would have to ask this question over and over, it may even become rhetorical as it is for many who have openly asked!!!

our declining reading culture or better put, our scant regards for reading matter is at the heart of many of our problems as a nation.A reading people is a questioning and discerning citizenry. People who do not read do not question the status quo and their continued existence faces serious threats. We will start to make incremental progress when we pay more premium to books.
we have nothing to lose but our ignorance and a blissful world to gain. Nigerian Bibliophiles, arise!
@Slap1. You appeared interested in Jude Dibia's two books-Walking with shadows and Unbridled.Do send me a text on 07034170121.

r

@poster
Pacesetters! i remember those novels!!
I remember 'a fresh start'

The most vivd evidence that the current secondary school age youths do not read as much, is in the quality of
their grammar usage (both written and oral).
It seems to be a global trend too.

Are there updated libraries?

God knows if I am a minister of education, no license for 2 bedroom primary schools.
Any school that wishes to be accredited must have libraries and playgrounds. Reading culture is declining but people are going to school .

Also other factors include PHCN effect. When a child comes back from school and lessons, he rests and after dinner the place is dark, how can he read? It becomes a health concern if he continuously uses a candle or lantern. or a cost concern if he uses extra generator lights

A lack of Literary societies,debate groups, research etc we should change our education policy and review our curriculum.

With all the social networks and internet search engines who has time to sit and read. Computer and internet has taking over reading.

Sisikill, yeah you put it in prespective there. Thats the power of imagination,only reading can unleash that awesome power. In movies you can only see what the director can show and he might be constrained by money, time or skill. So you get that feeling too? Atimes you drop the book and gaze into nothingness just visualising evrything.

Hackney, you remember ''A fresh start?'' Nice Book. Very calm and realistically romantic I read it at least 10 times!
Who remembers Dilibe Onyeama and Godfathers of voodoo? Scary book men. Before the advent of Stephen King and Dean Koontz if you wanted a bad scare it was Dilibe Onyeama, or ''50 true tales of terror'' he wrote nigger at Eton too.
There is this book i have been looking for , for ages past. It is actually a collection of 4 stories. The title is ''Great stories for children'' Some I think was based in France Or Switzerland. I can remember the title of two stories ''Happy acres'' and ''Bob's jungle trip'' Wonderful book! It teaches morals like forgiveness and tolerance in very subtle ways. Trust me, you will love it!

Please can we get more suggestions on how to revive our reading culture or should I say of our children? I don't know how far we parents can go but surely we can help our children.
Personally I used to read a lot but that changed although my love for reading remains, I spend a lot on books (haven't read most) I remember those days when I would read from morning till night. Now the computer is trying to destroy whatever is remaining of the damages caused by too much 'goodtime' However, it is one of the best gifts parents can give to their children, teach them to love reading.

What we do for our kids is we buy a lot of kiddy books, we read to them, strict restriction on TV, zero tolerance for nigerian home movie in our home, we (especially my wife) read to ourselves while they watch besides reading to them, but I think the best would be living out that culture ourselves.
More suggestions please?

Children love visuals. Picture books and comic strips will interest any kid. Like for me it was Obelix and Asterix. Long b4 I cld read I knew every pic inside out. Buy lots of comics , Tintin, superman peanuts and you could start ur own by getting the kids to cut out cartoons from old newspapers and gummuing them to the pages of a book. It makes reading fun untill they are well grounded and can visualize without external aids.

I think it has to do with parents and the global world, u get to sit in front of the internet all day, or watching films that are not meaningful, unlike when I was growing up in the eighties, i use to read alot still do sha, but mostly weekends. I started reading story books from class 1, unlike now when what most children do is just watching cartoon all day, why can't a mother or father teacher their children to cultivate the habit of reading, honestly reading helps.

What happened to Nigeria's reading culture?

If anyone on this thread can do something about solving the problem creatively, he or she will make a lot of money. The person will also add value to the lives of Nigerian Children. Just think. Cheers.

What are we the writers doing to circulate our works?

I guess people are so busy nowadays and parents don't really care anymore. Kids watch tons of TV, listen to music, gaming, etc, it's a struggle getting today's kids to read school books, not to talk of leisure reading.

Sad, truly sad.

Reading culture has really nosedived in modern times. This cannot be attributed entirely to the younger generation, the older generations are actually the culprit of this debacle and the correction equally lies in their hands. In today's world of TV (24/7), ipod, internet, mobile phones, video games and films who will not fall victim of complaisance. Our elders where able to cultivate reading habit because due to quest for pastimes they take to reading bestsellers and local novels.

The onus to arrest this drifting lie in individual wills especially the parents. The Bible says " train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows up he will not depart from it". We should cultivate reading culture in our various homes. The modern facilities above though good should not be allowed to becloud the virtue of reading good books.

Habits they say die hard let’s imbibe reading habit and our society will be better for it.

New content in a new medium sounds like a fine idea but I honestly don't think it's gonna help much in increasing readership. The only people who'll find this interesting are the people who are already reading.

I think it's time to accept the fact that reading is going the way of all the other extinct pasttimes like trainspotting, bird watching.

Someone on this thread mentioned e-reading. Doubt if that will work cos it just ain't the same as reading a real book. Why read on a pc when you can watch movies, browse and do more interesting stuff?

Sisi_Kill:

@ semid4lyfe
Thanks for the info. Maybe i won't kill you after all.

Go somewhere else and rant will you?

yes i remember pacesetters and the rest of dem, blame the govt for doing nothing about it ,minister of education,commissioner for education e.t.c how do you expect a child that hasn't eaten any food since morning to read?

The trend is so bad that even on nairaland you find people responding to threads without reading and comprehending what was actually posted.
You see comments such as "who has time to read all this, why not summarise?"

IF YOU WANT TO HIDE SOMETHING FROM SOMEONE, PUT IT IN A BOOK I HEARD

That is the beauty of science and Tech!
POLLUTED EVERYTHING, but we are happy!

But, determined students are still reading
like die.