So, at this time, I’d give up reading before I’d give up sex for two weeks. Heck, there’s always TV and DVDs.

I’ve gone two weeks without reading a book plenty of times. As a homeschooling mother of three, I have to steal time to read. I’m a fast or famine reader. I’ll go several weeks focusing on the kids, the house, and projects I’m in the middle of… then get desperate for some books and read four or five straight through while everything crumbles around me. So I know I can do two weeks without it bothering me too much. After all, I’ve still got my imagination and replays of all my favorite scenes.

Sex? Well… hubby and I both waited ’till were married… so that would have been easy to go without 14 years ago, but since then? We’ve gone longer than that since our wedding day only twice. And once was because I was staying with my sick mother out of state for five weeks. Not even pregnancy stopped us. Heck… pregnancy sex was fantastic, right up ’till the night before the kids were born, and we only waited a week afterwards. We simply miss it and each other if we don’t have some fun lavishing attention on each other at least once a week.

Does the fact that I write sweet and prefer to read sweet romance have anything to do with my vote? I don’t know…

However, being that I have been forcibly celibate for the last 7 months, and have 8 months to go, due to my husband being in Iraq….I know I can endure the lack of sex, and the sex books are helping me through this awful intercourse free existence. I can equally imagine a desert island scenario that includes a hot love slave with incredible recuperative powers and amazing stamina, that happens to be capable of deep philosophical conversations–and no books. But how awesome would that island be if it ALSO had a huge library? Impossible choices.

In the interests of being fair I asked my boyfriend which he would do it without (substituting video games for books, since he doesn’t read but he cares about video games as much as I care about books) and he said sex as well.

Hard to decide…

At any rate, thanks for the chuckle.

The mind boggles. I can think of so many things to say to this, but I think I'll just move on (snort).

Oh, Aoife, don’t hold back on my account! I specifically wrote that (in that way) to try and provoke a response, snorting myself all the while.

It’s true, though. I’ve not yet encountered a sexual situation that involved more persons than just myself but included reading. Perhaps that’s a failure of imagination on my part?

This being a self-selected sample of readers, I'd expect the majority of folks to answer 'sex' rather than ‘books'. But out in the real world, where there are scads of folks who never crack open a book, I expect the percentage would look very differently.

I logically understand that people have other hobbies and ways to fill their free time, but deep down, it's unfathomable to me that there are folks who do not read books for pleasure, ever…

GrowlyCub, I think your suggestion that we’d yield very diff. result with an otherwise “real-world” sample. I’d like to see that graph.

As far as it being unfathomable, folks who do not read books for pleasure (or informational purpose, I’d like to take the liberty of adding) I can understand. I am in the presence sometimes of individuals who fit this billing. Some struggle with the college program curriculum because they don’t understand the readings, some literally experience an anxiety attack when unexpectedly finding themselves in the public library (true story). The in-between examples are too numerous to name. I find it fathomable, however, based on my unquenchable thirst for “the root cause of all matters surrounding humans “being”. After having placed myself in the trenches, (most times to satisfy my curiosity in general and other times to support my acadmic pursuits) I find there to be a strong correlation btwn. esteem, self-worth, self-value, etc. and literacy skills or motivation to acquire them. Because of the stigma attached to illiteracy or below-standard reading ability coupled with symptom-driven approaches to a solution (a don’t ask, don’t tell) we do have many folks, disproportionate within certain populations) who lack the courage to “expose” themselves and reach out for help–real help–and simultaneously are misdiagnosed by those positioned to exact change but are satisfied with labeling the symptoms as the root cause and, consequently, proceed accordingly.

Sorry for the long posting:) Just had to comment since I breathe this stuff: the joy of reading…and the fact that so many, unnecessarily, can’t fathom it being enjoyable.

sex rarely includes opportunities for reading

The mind boggles. I can think of so many things to say to this, but I think I’ll just move on (snort).

Going without sex for two weeks wouldn’t be a problem, but reading is what I do.