June has always been my special month to read extensively. No how to, general information, politics, or any other type of practical knowledge reading. It’s always been fiction. Off to summer digs at Gulf Shores, with nothing more to do than fishing, swimming in the ocean (before the sharks came), and going through a stack full of novels I had saved in the previous months.
Americans are reading less and less, and it has become a disturbing trend. The average reader claims to have read only two books this past year. One in four adults say they have read no books at all. Book sales are flat throughout the country, and with some exceptions, independent bookstores are becoming more and more a thing of the past.
There was some good news in a new poll released last week. People in the south read a little more than those from other regions, mostly religious books and romance novels. Democrats read a little more than Republicans but not by much. And surprisingly, surveys show that those who say they never attend religious services read now twice as many books as those who attend frequently.
