Sad day.
The Pew Research Center reported last week that “nearly a quarter of American adults had not read a single book in the past year. As in, they hadn’t cracked a paperback, fired up a Kindle, or even hit play on an audiobook while in the car. The number of non-book-readers has nearly tripled since 1978.”
I can’t imagine life without books. Some of my best childhood memories involve books. The red Child Craft books full of poems and stories, Nancy Drew mysteries, the Little House series. I kept it up as an adult and now I usually read around 20 books each year, although in 2012 I burned through 41. Last year, however, I read a measly 12 books. What happened? Am I about to become a “non-book-reader” statistic? Never! I know exactly what happened.
First, our church had a “read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year” program in which I took part. (So I guess you could say I read 66 books.) Keeping up with that demanding reading plan did take a chunk of time, but it was so worth it.
Second, I bought an iPhone. I’m embarrassed to admit how much time that cool little gadget sucked up. Shudder. Facebook, Pinterest, Words with Friends. I am back in control now. Pretty sure.
Third, I subscribed to Gospel Ebooks. Every day these nice people send me a list of books that are dirt cheap or even free. Every day. FREE. Books. So my Kindle got loaded up and I’d read a few chapters out of a new book, but then would get distracted by the next day’s free offer. And so it went. I’m working on this gluttonous addiction.
I plan to pick up the pace this year. And I better. My current “Books to Read” list has 170 titles on it. Plus, there are 26 unread books on my Kindle, a pile of 8 books by my bed, and 13 must-reads on my bookshelf. At the rate of 20 books a year, I’ll be almost 65 years old by the time I finish. Then I will retire….and finally have time to do some serious reading.
“I still find each day too short for all the books I want to read….” John Burroughs
a small drop of ink 
Reading is such a love for me. both my parents read and as an only child, living in the country and my mom did not drive….I really read alot. I have gotten myself now to not pay more than a quarter at a thrift sale , but I still have boxes full. And I love a series, so will get one book and then get the rest from the library, and as long as I am at the library…well..you get my drift. I laughed to myself when I wanted to give a book I was done with to a friend and she refused saying she had two at home already to read…..needless to say her house is also much tidier than mine.
Piles of books make great home decor! I don’t read a lot of fiction, but if I find an author I like, I try to find a series, too.
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Then, there’s this list of movies that I want to see. I don’t like to watch a movie unless I have read the book first. I want my mind to create it’s own images when I read the book, not someone else’s idea of what things look like. So my list of books to read is directly proportionate to my list of movies to see. I’m behind on my reading, so I haven’t been to too many movies lately…….
I always think I should read the book first (it’s always better than the movie), but when I get asked out on a date with PB it’s a spur of the moment deal.