What? Me Read?

A few months back it was reported that Americans are reading for pleasure less and less. This is the sort of news that makes the English major in me cry quietly in a corner for a bit. But this news also infuriates the avid reader in me. For as far back as I can remember, I've been reading a book, or two, or sometimes more. This isn't to say I'm any sort of literary snob; one of my all time favorite authors is Stephen King. Of course, I'm also a huge fan of Melville, Chaucer and Theodore Dreiser, so it balances out a bit.

I praised Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci" code for getting adults to read in number heretofore unseen since the latest Harry Potter book. But apparently there aren't even enough people buying into Brown's pseudo-mythic-religious bullshit that will pick up another book that doesn't involve murders in the Louvre and centuries old conspiracies. Oprah had inspired housewives, but they aren't enough to drive up the numbers. We live in a country with a frightening growth rate of willful adult illiteracy. Sure, most American adults can read. They read for business purposes, and perhaps even occasionally to help out a child with homework. They'll read the instruction manual to the new DVD player and if we're lucky, the latest political article in Playboy. It is the lack of novel reading that has gotten everyone's panties in a bunch.

While I have not yet heard the Cassandras of our time predicting the end of civilization, it's probably just a matter of time. Between the continued reign of the reality show and the lack of recreational reading, we really should start preparing ourselves for the proverbial rapture. And what has convinced me of this more than ANYTHING else is a poll I just saw tonight on the New York Times website. The site puts forth the following question: Is the fact that Americans are reading less a bad thing? OK. Now that, while a somewhat stupid and pointless question, would appear to be an easy thing to answer. What has shaken me to the core is the fact that 6% of the people polled answered "No". 6% of New York Times readers seem to feel that Americans reading less is not a bad thing at all!

I'm praying that 6% is just a collection of TV and movie execs who don't want to lose their bread and butter.

But, sigh, I know that's only wishful thinking.