Literary Roundup

Reading and writing have been in the news a lot lately. First of all, the recent National Endowment for the Arts recently released a study that concluded, "We are reading less, and we are reading less well — and the consequences are troubling." Their study from 2004 revealed that American adults are reading less for pleasure; this study found that people on average are also less skilled at reading. They also found some interesting correlations: "Literary readers were more than three times as likely to visit museums, attend plays or concerts and create art as nonreaders, and more likely to play sports, attend games or do outdoor activities. They also were more likely to do volunteer or charity work and to vote."

As a parent, I'm glad I'm reading to my child and that he loves books. As a former teacher, I hope we can figure out a way to get more kids reading for pleasure. And as a writer, I have a vested interest in hoping we can reverse this trend.

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The cover story of Newsweek this week is the Kindle, Amazon's handheld reading device. It surprises me how much my attitudes towards reading have shifted in the past few years. As I was sorting through books this summer, I had to admit to myself how much space my books take up--and how nice it would be to be able to sort the words and information inside. Every morning, I recycle armfuls of the newspaper, some of which (the classifieds, the TV listings, the sports section) I never read. Wikipedia, Google, Amazon, Dictionary.com, and countless other sites have changed my relationship to text, and in the future I might seriously consider buying something akin to the Kindle.

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Two blogs that I've been enjoying:

• Editorial Ass, written by a "recovering editorial assistant," gives an insider's perspective on the world of publishing.
  
• Eliot, a blog of the St. Louis Writers Guild, written by my critiquegrouper Demian Farnworth, reflects on writers, reading, and writing. I have no idea how Demian finds time to read, write fiction, work at a demanding new job, AND write top-notch blog posts about writing, but he does.