Well Read

Good news, courtesy of the National Endowment for the Arts which reports that we are not a nation of illiterates! In fact, according to a recent report, "Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy," we are reading more. Specifically, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, play, short story or poem in the last 12 months has risen for the first time since 1982 when the United States Census Bureau began collecting data on our literary habits.

This is, of course, good news for the struggling publishing industry, which still has to contend with that all important question of what we are reading, and it also takes into account our current trend to read on the Internet.

But the best news is that the proportion of overall literary reading increased virtually across the board, among all ages groups and demographics, and rose most dramatically within the 18-24 age category. Some of this might be attributed to the inclusion of "reading on the web" data but some of this is also due to a steady push by cities, colleges and communities to read a common book.

In Philadelphia, we have the One Book, One City campaign, staged annually (the book this year is The Soloist by Steve Lopez) and my suburban community also sponsors a series of free programs around a common book. This year we are reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

And for all the talk about electronic reading, I still believe many commuters tote a book in their bags for the ride. It seems like almost everyone on the subway in New York is reading something. Don't discount the power of websites such as Good Reads to influence the trend. It seems as if I am getting updates almost every week from some of my book list buddies.

The study does not distinguish between literary fiction and non-fiction and my guess is that non-fiction does not make the cut, which is a shame. Contrast this with the number of recent movies all based on "true" stories ((Valkyrie, Defiance for starters) as well as those based on novels or short stories (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Reader) and it certainly seems like books remain a source of inspiration for many creative types.

So the book is not dead. It is just probably waiting to be savored.