Adults Reading

A new report came out regarding the reading habits of adults, and there's some good news: there has been a slight increase in the number of people who read at least one novel, short story, play or poem in the last year. Notice that this doesn't include non-fiction works (what I mostly read), or newspaper/magazine reading. I suppose that even this little increase is good, but I'm still baffled by how little adults read in general, especially now that the Internet provides us with so many ways to access material.

There is also an interesting discussion going on about separating literary reading from all the rest. As an English teacher, sure, I'd like to see the canon continue to expand. But if people are reading very popular books like the Harry Potter series, or those recommended by Oprah Winfrey, then I'm all for it. Reading is reading. There's clearly a link between reading comprehension test scores and pleasure reading among students, so increasing pleasure reading should clearly be a goal. Perhaps if they see adults around them reading, young people will follow suit. Another vote yes for Reading Workshop.