Let's Talk about books

Dates: Tuesday, July 22nd OR Thursday, July 24th

Location: See your e-mail for the Zoom link!

Website:

To see Lynne's list of recommended books, scroll down!

Midlife Fiction Novels.pdf

Lynne M. Spreen: books, biography, latest updateFollow Lynne M. Spreen and explore their bibliography from Amazon's Lynne M. Spreen Author Page.

The Best Book I Ever Read....

Note: we have done this board a few times over the years and I chose to leave up your old comments. You can always add a new one, especially if your favorite book has changed! To comment, simply click the plus sign in the lower right hand corner!

Check back throughout the week and see if anyone else shares your love of that book or find your next favorite read!

REading Is Magic

“At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader.”

Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

- Carl Sagan

Reading can be magical at any age. There are benefits to reading at every point in our lives. This week will be discussing book clubs and how one local company works with authors to connect them to readers. But why book clubs? But why read? Especially when there is so much to watch on Netflix or scroll through on our phones? Those who are irrevocable readers might also agree with children’s author Mac Barnett who says a good book is a secret door.

To watch his 16 minute whimsical talk about the surreal magic and secret doors that books provide, click here:

Why a good book is a secret doorChildhood is surreal. Why shouldn't children's books be? In this whimsical talk, award-winning author Mac Barnett speaks about writing that escapes the page, art as a doorway to wonder -- and what real kids say to a fictional whale.

Even if you don’t agree with Carl Sagan and Alberto Manguel that books are proof that we can work magic, there are a wealth of concrete benefits to reading. Read on (ha) for more!

What Can reading do for you?

So How Do We Do?

So, we know reading can be magical. We know reading has a number of benefits. But how are we doing?

Literacy

As of 2024, 79% of U.S. adults are literate
54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level
The top 3 highest states for child literacy rates are: Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Hampshire
- The bottom 3 are: Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico
The United States assesses 3 types of literacy:
- Prose - the knowledge and skill needed to search, understand, and use continuous texts like editorials, news stories, and instruction manuals
- Document - knowledge and skill needed to use non-continuous texts like job applications, payroll forms, maps, tables, drug and food labels
- Quantitative - knowledge and skill needed to perform computations, like balancing a checkbook, figuring out tips, and completing an order form

Reading

In 2021, Americans between the ages of 15 and 44 read for an average of 10 minutes or less, per day
- Individuals over 75 averaged 41 minutes of reading per day
23% of American adults didn’t read a book in 2020 (in 2018, 27% hadn’t read a book in the last year - blame quarantine for a slight uptick in reading!)
How many books do people read? According to one poll in 2021:
- 25% read between 1 and 5 books in the last year
- 15% read between 6 and 10 books
- 20% read between 11 and 50 books
- 8% read more than 50 books
33% of adults reported reading more books in early 2020 as a result of the pandemic
42% of college students don’t read a book after they graduate
80% of teenagers don’t read for pleasure on a daily basis

So of those adults that are reading, what kinds of books are they reading? According to a YouGov poll:

So how about YOU? What do you like to read the most? What genre? Think about the best book you ever read (maybe it’s in your favorite genre or maybe it’s not). Tell us the best book you’ve read by entering it at the top of this page!

Check back throughout the week and see if anyone else shares your love of that book or find your next favorite read!