The man who claims fiction doesn't interest him is probably turning to movies because he figures the investment is so slight: 90 minutes of his life as opposed to a few hours or days. As a writer myself I should be more generous, but I give a book 30 pages--if I'm not thoroughly in the clutches by then, I move on. There are too many wonderful books out there for me to waste my precious time on a clunker. I think a lot of adults feel obligated to finish a book they start, no matter what. WHY?? Ghostly admonitions from elementary school? Readers, release yourselves from bibliobligation! Question to all: How many pages do YOU give a book?

I'm a bookseller and as the saying goes, "so many books, so little time." I give books 25-30 pages. If the hook isn't in by then.... NEXT?

I work at a school (grades k-8) and I can tell you that hardly any of the teachers there read. In the staff room they talk about American Idol. In the meantime, we have reading contests and offer incentives for the students, as if reading is something that has to be coaxed and rewarded.

I used to struggle through an entire book (even if I didn't like it), just to see how it ended up. Now my time is a bit more precious. I can tell if I don't like the writing style within the first 2 chapters, and it'll get chucked for that. Otherwise I'll give it 75 to 100 pages--but I'm a really fast reader. I find that the galleys from BEA have deteriorated over the years. I used to find terrific writers, and now I slog through ten to twenty bad books to find one decent writer. Anyone else finding this, or am I just being picky these days?

As a past educator, I have two thoughts on why only 3 of 4 people in America read books: First, reading and literacy disbilities throughout America are finally being tracked with the advent of special education programs. Those with literacy issues avoid reading "for pleasure". I am, in fact, surprised that the figure is so low. Second, the types of "stories" that a number of people prefer on film were not necessarily ever books. Look at the volume of movies out there today.... To those who do "wait for the movie", I would suggest that the insights of the author and characters, as well as the reader make the reading experience even more worthwhile and pleasureable than the movie!

Like you, Bethanne, I see this glass as half-full, and not surprisingly...Even the most brain-dead chat shows are constantly featuring somebody who's plugging...A book!

Wow, you guys are genereous! If the first couple of paragraphs don't appeal I don't read the book. (My TBR pile is over 100 books right now, so I can't afford not to be choosy!)

And if teachers are spending their breaks talking about American Idol, isn't that more of a reflection on the sad state of the music industry?

Stephen Johnson wrote in Everything Bad is Good for You that young people are not only being drawn away from books by ever-easier-to-access media, but their thought processes are being changed by these non-linear media, to the point that most novels' very structure seems too slow and fixed. On the other hand, hopefully Harry Potter is leading a lot of kids into other literature.

I've only consciously decided to stop reading one book in my life. I have that crazy psychosis where I just feel like I'm going to miss something or it's going to get better or if I already started I may as well finish. Luckily I'm a fast reader, but I always try and keep an open mind until around 150 pages. I also switched to mysteries for a while just so I knew I'd have to finish it for the twist. This year I actually read a book called The Meaning of Night, which was 672 pages. Honestly, getting through the first 500 was painful, took me forever, and I'm not even quite sure how I did it. However the last 172 pages were fantastic so in retrospect I'm glad I didn't toss it!

I make sure to get all the way through any book I start - even if I can't stand it. That way when someone else tells me how great it was, I can tell them I hated it and not feel like I'm cheating.

You know, to spend time with other book lovers is one of the most sublime feelings-even when we talk of other subjects. To find them and then, to have a rendevous is not an easy feet, especially with other 20 somethings...

To everyone who has commented -- thank you. This is the most interesting discussion yet on my blog -- teachers, 20-somethings, and Kevin A. Lewis, all in a great big mishegoss of reading talk... like Shannon, I think spending time with other book lovers is sublime (and remember, "sublime" means awe-inspiring/terrifying, as well as supreme/not to be excelled). I can't (and maybe shouldn't) try to respond to what each person wrote in a comment box -- but I want to! However, two things I do want to be sure to say: I'm going to continue the to-finish-or-not-to-finish debate in a future blog entry, and Steve: Stephen Johnson's argument is a very interesting one (even if all of Everything Bad wasn't... I thought it could have been more succinct), and it's a point I touched on in an earlier blog entry about how a literacy educator argued that kids aren't even learning how to conduct a cogent conversation any more, let alone read a structured narrative. And that brings me to what may be yet another future entry... we humans want stories, but the forms we want them in do change...

I've been an avid reader my whole life. I read for fun, for knowledge, and to expand my horizons. However, I've never been one to look down on people who don't. Why is it bad that one in four Americans did not read a book last year? What if people criticized me because I didn't play sports, went to the opera, or went to church last year? There are lots of things in life that offer fulfillment and I do not take offense when someone doesn't get the same joy from reading as I do.

I'm a Literacy Coor. at Burbank Public Library and this report has been making the rounds over the past few days. Thought this reply by Stephen Krashen might be of interest. Sent to San Diego Union Tribune, August 22, 2007 The AP-Ipsos poll is reported as showing that Americans don’t read much anymore (“Many not going by the book,” August 21). Several things are wrong with this conclusion. First, the figures may be inaccurate. AP-Ipsos reported that 73% had read at least one book during the year. In 2004, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities, 57% had read at least one book during the year, a substantial difference. Second, it is not clear there has been a decline. The current figure is less than that reported for 1985 (86%), but it is an improvement over 1945 (71%). Third, there is more book reading taking place in the US than elsewhere, more than in Canada (67%), Finland (66%), the UK (63%), and Belgium (23%). Most important, the poll only counted book reading. Other kinds of reading have increased: Sixty percent of adults in the US use the internet, up from 25% ten years ago, and 27% of internet users read blogs. About 9% of adults listen to books on tape, a relatively new phenomenon, and magazine reading has increased in recent years. Only newspaper reading has declined. Finally, there has been no deterioration of American intellectual life. The percentage of people who attend plays and operas, use public libraries and museums, and do creative writing has stayed the same since 1982. Stephen Krashen Professor Emeritus University of Southern California

If I go to someone's house I've never visited before, one of the first things I do is check out their book selection (as well as music & movies). If there are no books,I'm probably in the wrong place. And I usually give a book 50 pages or so to grab me before I give up, which rarely happens. I must admit even HP7 had its slow moments (all those scenes in the tent) but by page 500 it really grabbed hold and didn't let up until it finished. It's people like us, who probably read at least 50 books a year, who raise up the national average. The only person more unfortunate than someone who cannot read is someone who can, but doesn't.

There are more blog topics in these replies, and I promise to get to them. But in brief: 1. Charles, your last line is wonderful, and I'm like you: I love checking out bookshelves (and I've just been inspired for another entry). 2. W Byrne, thank you so much for posting Krashen's reply -- see why I think one out of four "ain't bad?" As I told a colleague or ten yesterday, I'd rather it be one out of four not reading than one out of four reading. 3. Kristi, you make an excellent point, and to those who might say that reading is more essential to learning/understanding/communicating than dance, theater, visual arts, I might counter with the fact that for centuries, what we now consider "literature" that appears in "books" involved -- dance, theater, visual arts... Sophocles didn't write for the page, and verse chanted to drumbeats can be written down -- but is it the same?