Comments on US Reading Habits

Where You Fall in US Reading Habits

I suspect almost all of us here are readers, but according to this news story (and others like them), the US is not a nation of readers. This pretty much confounds me, since my house is always bursting at the scenes with books. Books fill my life, house, car . . . you get the idea. And I can never find a parking place at the Barnes & Noble! (But that may be the coffee . . . ). How many books do I read a year? Who the fuck knows? Maybe --- 50 to 70? :)

Among the interesting tidbits in the article:

One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year . . . At the same time, book enthusiasts abound.

Women read more than men; Democrats read more than Republicans; Southerners read a bit more than the rest of the country; seniors read more, whites read more than Blacks or Hispanics . . .

Oh yeah--I'm an old, white, Democrat-type, college-educated broad, now living in Texas . . . maybe that's why!

Cloud,
I'm reading about the same number of books per year (but maybe not the same titles). Last year I started to keep a reading log, but stopped maintaining it after about 6 months, and I think I'd read 42 books at that point.

But a funny thing happened to me about two months ago - I lost interest in reading fiction. I just don't have any enthusiasm for it. I hope this is temporary, because I'd been reading almost constantly since the day before I was born.

The article blames movies, the Internet and other media for the decline, and I have to agree. A few years ago, when I discovered my particular fiction obsession on the 'Net, my fiction reading went way down for several years. It went back up again, but perhaps not to its previous level. I read lots of non-fiction, too.

Bah, reading is so like 20th century. Hook up the electrodes.

which reminds me . . . I want to read Neuromancer again. I read it when it first came out, which must be . . . what? 20 years ago? I want to see what my perceptions of cyberspace are now.

HLJ, I go through phases like that from time to time. Sometimes that 'phase' can last a year or more.

Cloud;377111 wrote:

The article blames movies, the Internet and other media for the decline, and I have to agree. A few years ago, when I discovered my particular fiction obsession on the 'Net, my fiction reading went way down for several years. It went back up again, but perhaps not to its previous level. I read lots of non-fiction, too.

I'm blaming the Cellar.

You guys are just way too interesting.

I'm a voracious reader, always have been. I can't imagine not being into it...but some of the people i admire most in my life do not read for pleasure. Somehow, that seems flawed to me.

50 books a year, wow.

Over the summer (may 15th -now) I've read 9 books and working on my 10th, most of them non-fiction.

When I get back to college I will probably finish one book a semester due to an increase in homework and social life.

Now that I'm working two jobs (65-80 hrs per week total), I can only manage one book a week. Previously, when I worked a normal 40 hour week, I could read 2-3 a week. When not working at all, I go through one a day. I try to choose average sized paperbacks (I can't afford hardbacks at the rate I read) of about 500 pages. Less than that and I feel like I've been teased (and wasted my money). I usually read popular fiction, although I also read non-fiction on topics that interest me. Those take me more time as I try to absorb and learn from them, rather than escape or create a mental movie.

Stormie

I just skimmed over the article and don't believe it noted much about "younger age" as in 14 - 18 yr olds (boys mostly). I'm certain their numbers are down because of the computer/internet, video games and ipods.

Oh, I don't know...stickball was just as good a diversion as a video game. ;)

At first I thought maybe that link went to some kind of calculation thing, like where you enter your answers and it tells you something about those answers. Then I thought, how in the hell would that work?
Please enter the number of books you read in a year.
Submit.
Then it goes through some big mathmathetical calculation and tells you how many books you read in a year.:p

I think I read about 1000-2000 pages a day--on the Internet. Tends to cramp on my book time.

jester;377388 wrote:

I just skimmed over the article and don't believe it noted much about "younger age" as in 14 - 18 yr olds (boys mostly). I'm certain their numbers are down because of the computer/internet, video games and ipods.

And because reading isn't "cool".