Posted on: Saturday, July 24, 2004
COMMENTARY
A good book is worth sharing
By Tom Schaefer
Read any good books lately?
Let's flip to the end of the survey, conducted by the Census Bureau in 2002 and reported in the New York Times earlier this month, for its conclusion:
"Among its findings, fewer than half of Americans over 18 now read novels, short stories, plays or poetry; that the consumer pool for books of all kinds has diminished; and that the pace at which the nation is losing readers, especially young readers, is quickening."
The steepest decline is among 18- to 24-year-olds (almost 60 percent read a book in 1982 compared with about 43 percent in '02) and 25- to 34-year-olds (62 percent to less than 47 percent during the same period).
But not everyone sees the bookmobile as half empty.
"In an age where there's no canon, where there are so many other forms of information, and where we're returning to a medieval-like oral culture based on television, I think that's pretty impressive, quite frankly," Kevin Starr, a librarian emeritus for the state of California, said of the half overall who do read.
And there is this anomaly noted in June by the Association of American Publishers: Book sales worldwide increased 6 percent in 2003, compared with the previous year, and the category with the biggest increase (almost 37 percent) in sales was religious texts.
Ah, religious books. They still command the public's attention.
Of course, not all of them reach the level of literary masterpiece — or even entertaining paperback.
Scan the shelves of some bookstores — under the "Religion and Spirituality" category, for example — and you'll quickly discover everything from a best seller ("Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul" by Tony Hendra); to the quirky ("Me and My Big Mouth: Your Answer Is Right Under Your Nose" by Joyce Meyer); to the downright bizarre ("Pigs in the Parlor" by Frank Hammond and Ida M. Hammond).
Yes, there's some meaty fare, but there's also a lot of tasteless gristle.
If we're going to increase the number of book readers, we need to encourage them — and ourselves — to pick up something worth reading, religious or otherwise.
To do that, I need to hear from you. What book have you read that you couldn't put down? What hardback or paperback stirred your imagination or lifted your soul?
It doesn't have to be religious or newly released.
It could present universal themes that enrich the human spirit or challenge the comfortable to look beyond their safe haven.
With summer at the halfway point, let's share our best book with others. And then stretch ourselves by digging into something new.
Tom Schaefer writes about religion and ethics for the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle.
If you check the "Reading at Risk" survey about America's reading habits, you'll understand why more and more people respond with vacant stares.
