Not only do they read more, but they basically read real books as as oppose to Americans who:
tend to enjoy romance and mystery titles mostAlso known as: CRAP. This does not bode well for the American image. I really don't want Americans to be stupid. And I'm not saying that there aren't stupid British people even though their accent makes us think otherwise. However, I think we can all agree that America, on the whole, is the weird, kind of vacuous cousin of whom Britain is ashamed to admit relation.
Another issue addressed in the report, Americans don't go to bookstores. We prefer to sit on our couch, in our underwear, probably belching loudly whilst ordering some Jodi Picoult novels online. [Because who needs real society when the internet is just as good?]:
in America the internet is the top way to buy books.And I am guilty of buying books online, but in my defense it isn't because I don't want to go to a bookstore, rather, the bookstores just don't carry the books I'm looking for, thus forcing me to order online. [I recently went on a feverish search for Cicero's On Obligations, calling every bookstore in a 10 mile radius... all had no idea what the hell I was talking about]. Smaller bookstores are going out of business. I myself have lost a great small bookstore. These are probably the places that would have carried some Cicero, but alas, this is the world we are living in now.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think reading a good book (that is not a "Mystery" not a "Romance" or The Bible) may actually increase our overall thinking capacity. And maybe if the country had read more, we could have avoided this 8 year catastrophe:
Not sure why the brits have much on us in this area. Why do you? Do they have a lot of independent book stores? PS they are under huge camera and other surveillance in britain. The concept of privacy there is in the toilet. No matter what has happened to us here, we aren't at their privacy invasion level yet. See front page story NYTimes, Sunday, October 25. Don't be ashamed to be American
ReplyDeleteThe Brits do read more than we do. They read on the tube, they read walking to the tube, they read in the pub and no doubt read on the lou. They are also behind the Man Booker Prize you mention in another post and it gets a lot of publicity, pre and post announcement!
ReplyDeleteSo do our pulitzers and other literary awards. When i am on the subway, people read. When i am on a plane people read. People read a great deal in the US. And P.S. the government isn't doing surveillance on every street corner to see what we are reading! Do you really think the brits are reading great literature while we americans only read trash? Or read it a lot more than the brits?
ReplyDeleteThe report says that Brits buy more books than the Americans. But I'm not sure that Brits go to public libraries the way we do in the USA, that's more our tradition, and circulation figures demonstrate that public library collections are heavily used. The report is a trade report for booksellers. So, I'm not sure it follows that Brits are actually reading more than we are. As to what our respective national reading interests are, comparatively speaking, it would interest me to know more about that. As a nation, they are known for some pretty silly stuff so I suspect they like to read 'junk' just like we occasionally do.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I can't imagine only buying one book per year. I can't even limit myself to one book per trip to the bookstore. I do find, as you mention, that frequently the title I am particularly seeking is not in the bookstore, and therefore I have to turn to amazon.com or borders.com. But if I just want a book on a subject, and have no particular title in mind, the bookstore usually has something acceptable. Once in the bookstore, it is impossible not to browse the new books tables, the 'staff recommends' shelves, and the remainder table. And I do love to know if the book has been acknowledged as a prize winner, or finalist, and that information is likely on the cover of the book.
One of my library school professors told us "never apologize for low tastes in reading". I've never forgotten that advice, and it's held me in good stead. Reading is a wondrous activity - you can learn about people, places, events, emotions, abstract concepts, or you can just relax and read something less intellectually taxing. It's reading and should be encouraged! Would love to know where you stand on the anime, comics type books that seem to be in vogue at the moment.
What a great comment. I love bookstores, i feel i could buy a lifetime worth of books on each trip. I find when I travel, i am going into bookstores, EVEN CHAINs because no two of them have the same stuff.
ReplyDeleteI already have so many books i can't read them in what is left of my years, but i keep buying.