Leah Price, Professor of English at Rutgers University, loves books and worries about the future of books. What We Talk About When We Talk About Books:The History and Future of Reading explores the history of books and the challenges books face today in a time filled with movies, podcasts, TV on demand, and video games.
Leah Price points out sales of ebooks have fallen in recent years. Sales of “real” books exceed ebook sales by $100 million. And sales of audio books continue to rise. The book is far from dead but Price cites statistics that many Americans don’t read books–real books or ebooks–anymore. A smaller segment of people read MORE books which explains the sales figures. How many books do you read? How many books do you buy? GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 1
Reading over shoulders — 17
The real life of books — 51
Reading on the move — 79
Please lay flat — 110
Prescribed reading — 119
Bound by books — 143
End Papers — 163
Acknowledgements 171
Notes 173
Index 205
I average around 150 books read each year. I used to buy a lot of books but now that I’m retired I use the library a lot more. Most people I know that are readers read quite a bit. At least one book a week. I think that readers have always been a minority and haven’t changed that much. I know some ebook readers but most tend to drift back to real books after awhile. Now if we only had a President who read….
Steve, like you I’ve been cutting back on the number of books I buy. I’ve read 112 books in 2019 so far. But I find inexpensive books at Library Book Sales irresistible!
The AAUW and Library book sales around here are pretty much a bust. Top heavy on James Patterson. The SF table usually consists of Star trek books and that Left Behind series. I never seem to find anything.
Steve, I’ve had great success at thrift stores.
Some years it’s a little higher or lower, but I tend to read about 150 per year. I don’t do too much in the way of tracking except to jot things down in a notebook. Physical books now come from library book sales or as gifts; since Julia gave me her old kindle when she upgraded, almost every book I’ve purchased has been an ebook, as have most of the books I’ve checked out from the library. Reading is my absolute favorite leisure activity (if there’s a baseball game on in the background, so much the better). My idea of hell is a place without books—or, as in the famous Twilight Zone episode, a place full of books and me without my glasses.
Deb, I once found myself in a doctor’s Waiting Room without a book. The longest two hours of my Life!
Probably about 75 books a year. Much down from my past. If I buy it is kindle or used books. Mostly I read library books.
Patti, the Librarians at the North Tonawanda Public Library and I are on a first name basis. I bring them candy around the holidays to thank them for buying books I suggest.
150 is a good total. In the past it was over 200 at times, and there have been years under 100. The killer is twofold for me – the internet and Netflix. I cannot read and watch television at the same time as I need to give each my total concentration (unless, as Deb said, it is a baseball game or the like). The internet is also a real time killer. I read the NY Times, the Daily News, and the Washington Post every day online, as well as blogs, etc. Perfect example: today I was up at 6:00 and it is 7:45 and I am not done with catching up.
I don’t buy books at the same level I used to, but if I find a book (usually a review on a blog or George Easter’s Deadly Pleasures or in the newspaper) that I can’t get in the library, I will still buy it. My number of ebooks continues to rise (and Jackie buys her own set of authors, more and more of whom seem to be self-publishing ebooks). You would think, why not wait until you read some of the backlog before you buy more? But anyone here will know the answer to that one. I have a list of ebooks available in the library, so when I finish one I can borrow another. Unfortunately, there are times when several come in at once (I have three downloaded now), so those have to be read first. And then I will discover that a favorite author (one of dozens) has a new book that I didn’t know about.
Jeff, I have over 200 ebooks on my iPad waiting to be read. Diane bought LADY IN THE LAKE and A BETTER MAN on AMAZON. My purchases tend toward more academic books.
I average about ten books a month, and now it’s mostly library books. For most of my life I bought books, and finally just ran out of room for them. When e-books became a thing, I thought Oh what a great idea, but I just didn’t like reading that way and my Kindle mostly went unused. There is a Kindle app on my tablet, and now and then I’ll use it, but mostly it’s for books that aren’t available any other way. Never got into audio books. I know people love the things, but I’ve found that my attention tends to wander when I listen to them.
When I was working I always thought the greatest thing about retirement would be having so much more time to read. It was one of the great shocks of my life when I found that I read just about the same amount after retirement that I did when working. After 15 years of retirement that’s still true and it still surprises me.
Michael, Diane and I listen to audiobooks on a regular basis. The key factor to us is the narrator. If we don’t like the narrator’s voice or style, we stop listening.
Like Michael I have never been able to listen to audio books. My mind drifts no matter how good the reader is.
Steve, we used to listen to audiobooks on long trips. But now car makers don’t include CD players in their vehicles anymore.
I’ve listened to two audiobooks only. While both were excellent (Frank McCourt reading his ANGELA’S ASHES was one), it’s not for me. Like Steve, I easily lose concentration and had to go back several times to catch what I missed. I prefer music in the car, so we always bring CDs on trips.
Jeff, we play music CDs when we drive to Boston to visit Katie. We also have Sirius/XM Radio so we play various music channels (and TV channels like MSNBC) as we drive.
Same here on audiobooks.
Books? Reading? These concepts are completely unknown to me, George.
Jerry, just one look at the books reviewed on your blog shows you’re shucking us!
You’ve heard me say this before: my goal each year is 104, two books per week. Most years I meet or exceed that by a dozen or so, but that’s what I try to do. For a slower reader like me, 2 a week means pretty much reading constantly. I read several hours every day, after I read the paper, catch upon email and look at a dozen or so blogs. Doing jigsaw puzzles does take time away from reading, but it’s a hobby of ours.
I still buy books, both physical and ebook, but not so much as I used to. It’s a matter of shelf space and the availability of many things from the library. I have two library books on hand and three on hold just now. I also sometimes reread books on the shelf. I have Kindle for Mac on my iPad with a lot of ebooks on it, and get things for it both from the library and purchase if cheap.
Rick, like you I find myself buying fewer new books. And, in 2019 I’ve actually become more picky on buying older books that were automatic purchases in past years. Yes, space is a problem. I’ve donated five boxes of books to our local public Library for their annual Book Sale. I even threw in a box of music CDs that I figured I wouldn’t listen to again. Yet, I don’t see much free space. I’ll have to try harder.