Saturday, August 29, 2009

Reader's Digest

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reader's Digest Association Inc, whose namesake magazine has been a staple of dentists' offices for generations, said on Monday (August 11) it planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its U.S. businesses as part of a prearranged plan with lenders to cut debt by 75 percent.

Read the full article here

I first read about this in the local newspaper, and it made me sad. The magazine will still continue to be published, but bankruptcy is still bankruptcy.

Reader’s Digest was a part of growing up, it was something that was always there, it was familiar and comfortable. My father, who is a big fan, subscribed to the magazine for a very long time. If you do some digging in our house you might still find some editions from the 80s and 90s. I can proudly say Reader’s Digest was one of the factors that fuelled my love for reading. I loved reading the short articles, the jokes, the book sections, I even ordered a few of their booklets, you know, where you had to give names and addresses of fourteen of your friends and in return they would send you a booklet. I entered in the Sweepstakes (never won anything though), ordered free books along with new subscriptions, and submitted my entries for Life’s Like That (though I never got published).

The arrival of a new issue was always an exciting event, and for the first few days it would get passed around a lot until everyone read it. I’d first read the jokes. Life’s Like That, All in a Day’s Work, Laughter, the Best Medicine, and the jokes you found at the bottom of the pages, kind of to fill up the space. Then I would read the short articles, where somebody would tell how they met their wives/husbands fifty years ago, about some incident in the night, about some event that changed their lives. One writer I particularly remember was Penny Porter, who lived in a farm with lots of animals. I loved her articles about her family, her children, their pets and the stray animals that wandered into their lives.

Then I would read Drama in Real Life. Being attacked by a grizzly while hiking in the woods, being trapped in a mine, a plane crash, attacked by a mad man etc etc. I would save the Book Section for the last; they were relatively lengthy and needed more time. The articles that bored me to tears were the health articles. Human nature, I guess, to stay away from something that is good for us and lean towards the bad. One of the reasons we stopped subscribing was the magazine was turning into a health magazine. It became boring. Plus a thousand other magazines came up, television came into our lives, and we discovered other books and other interests.

I still love reading old issues. I still buy old copies, old editions from the 60s, 70s and 80s. They were much more authentic, much truer and the people were not so fake. And I still buy the old condensed books.

14 comments:

  1. Sad,sad, very sad indeed. RD is also my favourite magazine. I remember once hoarding a collection of the American editions which a relative brought home. I love, love the Indian edition too. Hope they will keep publishing anyway.

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  2. my father used to get RD issues (from the early 60s onwards) bound (with hard cover) and they formed a significant part of our home library when we were growing up. i grew up reading (and re-reading) them, and they played a huge role in fuelling my love of reading. a few years back i came upon a booth selling old, 50s-603 issues of South African edition of RD at my kids' annual school flea market. of course, i grabbed them all. they were pure gold and brought back many memories. i still subscribe to RD and read them cover to cover, except the health articles :P

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  3. Carey- Yes the Indian edition will still be published, but your favourite magazine going bankrupt makes you sad, doesn't it?

    ruolngulworld- I think the older the edition, the more interesting the read. I too love re-reading them, but still avoid the health articles. They make me realise how imperfect my health is and make me feel guilty for not following a particular diet or for not eating right. Let me be my own imperfect self.

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  4. I remember trying to figure out what "picturesque" meant (Towards more picturesque speech) as a kid. The first section I would normally get to is Laughter, the best medicine. RD has been a part of my family since my late gramps, there's still those b/w hard-bound copies in his library. Haven't read one in quite a while now. It's sad that one of the most loved family digest is bankrupt.

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  5. I just read the August issue a few days ago but I never knew about the bankruptcy. Sad, just like Archie's engagement to Veronica Lodge...

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  6. My fav mag :( I grew up on RD. Whenever I buy the latest RD even now, I would first read all the various jokes sections, including those short snippets after every article... hehehe... and then I would test myself at the vocab section, learning the ones I don't know, and then finally read all the articles one by one. This news is indeed sad :-(

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  7. blackestred – Your gramps had b/w copies? That is something I’d love to see. Never seen a b/w edition before. They must have been really really old by now, and I guess very valuable too. Keep them safe.

    Tetea – Yes it’s really sad. But I think Archie’s engagement to Veronica was just a publicity gimmick, you know to improve sales. I’m still rooting for Betty, though.

    illusionaire – Ah yes the vocab section, Word Power, isn’t it? I remember how they would always insert a page between the questions and the answers and I would flip the pages real quick so as no to peek at the answers.

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  8. I love RD too, though it's rather changed for the worse. We stopped subscribing after moving to Mumbai but i used to buy it from a magazine shop at the station. But the shop closed down and haven't found another place. Oh yeah, we once got as a prize of something, the first issue in b&w. It must be still there somewhere in the house.

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  9. Ka lung i ti leng e. Readers Digest hi class 4 kan nih lai vel atanga ka hmelhriat ve tawh a, a lem kan en thin :). Class 7 vel trang khan ka chhiar ve a. CHuan kum 10 liam hnuah ka subscribe ve leh a. RD hi chhiar a nuam. Keini ang reading skill nei tlem tan phei chuan. Mahse India Today group in an lak tak atang khan ka tuina a tlahniam deuh a, ka chhiar ta mang lova. Lung hlui chu i ti leng hrim hrim e

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  10. mesjay - I too believe RD's changed for the worse, or is it simply because there are too many other interesting things out there? You were quite lucky to win a prize, sadly I never did.

    vana - Engtik lai atang chiah khan nge ka chhiar tan chu ka hre tawh lo, mahse kei pawh a lem en atang thoin alawm ka tan. Naupan lai te chuan a lem kha hmuhnawm hek.

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  11. ahh..Reader's Digest, one of the first book I've ever known, Dad has loads and loadss of them, he subscribes them till today

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  12. My pleasure, Mimi :)

    RD was quite popular in the old days, that's why it has so many fans among the elderly people, our parents included. Not much entertainment back then.

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  13. Ah now i can read all the jokes section first guilt free!! I remember Penny Porter's article..and i also used to send loads of those address thingies.....got a few joke books in lieu of them

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