no one is reading anymore

Our house has a Library. It was one of the things we looked for when we bought a house. It isn't a huge room, with stairs and stuff. I was at one time a first floor bedrooom and the people before us used it as a TV den (they home schooled and didn't have a TV in the Living room.) My dh put shelves ALL OVER this room (it is about 11X15, or maybe a little smaller) and we have only about half our books in there. We're in our 40s, though and have been collecting books for years, for ourselves and our four kids.

My dh doesn't read all that much, eihter. He has ADHD, and was never treated, so it is hard for him to sit still and read. I still buy him books I think he might like, and can sometimes get a good half hour of reading out of him, especially on "reading night." (No TV, everyone has to read, it dosen't matter what.) We try to do this once a week, but don't always succeed. Myself and three of my kids (the three younger ones) are constant readers, my oldest (19) is more like her dad. She's been working on the second Harry Potter book for almost a year. My 5 year old reads, and goes through books at an alarming pace. My 14 year old boy and my 16 year old girl will probably spend most of the summer reading. They like to go out into the treetop playplace my dh made and read up there in the summer.

 

Maggie, I spend time in people's homes as well and I agree with you about big TVs and no books. It is a constant challenge to get my students to read for pleasure.
As for my family, we have 2 TVs in our house, but only one is used, and not that much. I refuse to pay for television, so we don't have cable and my daughter only watches PBS. We have converted a bedroom into a library as well. It is not all books, our computer is in there too. We also have book shelves in the living room and in the bedrooms. When we moved across country, my husband told me I could keep all of my books or all of my clothes and knicknacks. I chose the books. It was a good choice

 

I never read, but anyway I have a T.V. and a bookshelf in my room.

 

Yes, the internet is becoming the place to find almost anything you need. I have noticed that most of the people responding to this thread are readers and their feedback is easy reading and not filled with (what would you call them) shortened or abreiveiated words. I just hope our kids growing up don't end up spelling like some do on the internet. (ur; your/ thnx; thanks/ etc) I know its quicker to type that way, I catch myself doing it, but being into journalism I find I cannot help trying to use proper puncuation and spelling. Anyway, what a great intelligent thread!!!

 

isn't it odd that we've become so codependant on technology to entertain us?

Even library research has gone down, I read an article as well (ironically, on the internet) that there are as many as 60% fewere students signing out books at the library because of the information on the internet.

We've developed technology in such a way that we never have to leave our homes to get entertained any more.

I've even noticed in conversations I've had with people, their capacity to think has dropped a little. I love to read, and I have to admit, I love reading a book and then watching the movie its based on second to compare, it's often interesting and the movie always (in my opinion) sux compared to the book its based on. But when talking to people, they can quote the movie left right and center but the novel itself, there's just so much more detail that the movie misses, and the conversation quickly becomes very shallow....

 

Like you guys, I love books also. Sometimes when I pass a yard sale I can't help myself and almost always end up buying a book, no matter what it is! (haha) I think the oddest book I've ever seen is one about helping your pet to cope with stress through hypnosis,...or something like that! haha

 

I intend to be a librarian once I'm out of college. It frustrates me that people just don't read, and books keep getting less and less popular, until libraries will be just big rooms filled with computers and other electronics. I got a cute little t-shirt with pro-reading stuff on it to fight the trend though! (but mostly because it's cute) On the front is a girl pushing up her glasses and it says "Reading is sexy". It probably won't change a thing, but it's a statement!

 

To put it simply, I have seen many a person slumped under a tree, reading a book. I don't believe I've seen any people slumber under a tree, reading a computer screen.

 

I think book sale figures just reflect what the richer of us are reading. What's a hardcover bookworth these days? $35 bucks? The last hardcover I bought cost me $45 CDN and the only reason i bought it was because a friend wrote it. (All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki, a funny novel about GMO potatoes and activists in a veggie oil bus; won lots of awards and was called a modern 'Monkey Wrench Gang')
Anyway, if I buy books I buy them used. I am a nomad and can't haul around a huge book collection. Mostly we have reference books on plants and wildlife.
I always have around 20 books or more checked out of the library though. And I read about three novels at a time. I dont own a TV, but I used to watch a lot, so my reading habits are ADHD style back and forth, read a few chapters of one and switch to another.
So, if you want to get an indication of whether we're reading or not, you need to be able to see how many books have been checked out of libraries or how used bookstores are faring.
Today is a book day for me (again). I'm going to write a few pages for my novel, then go to the library, then drop a few books off around town for www.bookcrossing.com for others to find.