Hooray, People Are Reading Again

After years and years of warranted widespread hang-wringing and moping about the state of reading in the US, the New York Times yesterday cited a National Endowment for the Arts study that shows fiction reading is back on the rise.

The news comes as the publishing industry struggles with declining sales amid a generally difficult economy.

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.

“There has been a measurable cultural change in society’s commitment to literary reading,” said Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts."

Have to admit, as a cynical long-time reading nerd this warms my heart. A little. Can we thank the internet for this...?

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