Stop the presses...really.
Sad news about American reading habits was buried deep in a story that appeared today in The Wall Street Journal.
In an article about how personal libraries are gaining popularity among those building their own homes, it was reported that only 5 percent of Americans said they read any literature in 2002, down from 14 percent a decade earlier. The figures are from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2002 data being the latest available.
Read the article here and reflect on the tragedy reported seven paragraphs down. If we are reading literature at less than half the rate at which we used to, what in God's name do we need with libraries in our homes?
Perhaps it's not as bad now as the numbers let on. It was six years ago, after all. Things may have improved.
Maybe we were caught up a little in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and training our attention on TV news reports, newspapers and newsmags. Maybe we were trying to find out whose office the anthrax-laden envelope showed up in. Maybe we were keeping an ear out for the next shoe bomber to strike a match on a commercial jet. Maybe it was a time to turn on and tune in but not drop out.
Books offer escape. Literature offers an alternate reality, one better or worse than our own and each soothing in its own way. We need that when times are tough.
But our needs may have changed.
As reported by the newspaper, some building libraries into their homes stock shelves not with books they've read or plan to read, but with books whose bindings fit the theme of the decor.
Decorators spend $20 apiece for boxes and boxes of matching books with which to stock shelves and create atmosphere.
Homeowners retreat to their library not to ponder the themes of Steinbeck or the characters of Dickens, but to get away from the distractions of the television and the computer and take a nap.
A tragedy indeed. It would not be surprising to find out some are forgoing actual books altogether and merely painting them on the walls.
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