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Michael Merschel: Michael Merschel is The Dallas Morning News books editor. September 2009
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Monday morning is not the usual time slot for good news, but a National Endowment for the Arts study in today's New York Times indicates that for the first time since 1982, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen. The story says: "The proportion of adults reading some kind of so-called literary work -- just over half -- is still not as high as it was in 1982 or 1992, and the proportion of adults reading poetry and drama continued to decline. Nevertheless the proportion of overall literary reading increased among virtually all age groups, ethnic and demographic categories since 2002. It increased most dramatically among 18-to-24-year-olds, who had previously shown the most significant declines." NEA chairman Dana Gioia credits community-based programs such as the "Big Read," Oprah Winfrey's book club, and megaseries such as "Harry Potter" and "Twilight." Because I promised good news, I will not dwell upon the paragraph deep in the story that notes how the proportion of adults who said they had read any kind of a book, fiction or nonfiction, that was not required for work or school actually declined slightly. The full study is posted here. (Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the tip.) E-mail entry: |
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