According to this recent editorial by Francine Fialkoff, the Editor-in-Chief of Library Journal, The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has provided a positive update to some gloomy reading-related news in their 2004 report, “Reading at Risk”.
After decades of a steady reading decline, the latest NEA study, “Reading on the Rise”, reports that “literary reading” (novels, short stories, poems, or plays, both print and online) has jumped by 3.5% overall. According to Fialkoff, “Other highlights are that 84% of those who read literature online or download it also read print or online books, and 77% of those who read web-based articles or blogs also read books.”
Together with a recent article in Forbes magazine on the latest Kindle online-reading device from Amazon, there is great evidence that reading in all forms is alive and well in the United States today.
In honor of reading, be sure to attend the upcoming Around the World through Books program at JSRCC Parham Campus this Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. The book, Perspolis, by Marjane Satrapi, will be presented by Jason Lire and Lily Mirjanangiri. This graphic novel is the memoir of a young girl growing up in contemporary Iran.
Persepolis is such an exciting book! The image of the heroine Marjane being loomed over by angry women in black for not wearing a headscarf stays with me.
Great idea to introduce others to this exciting and moving book.