<![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year - Gawker Comments]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year - Gawker Comments]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Even though it seems as if lots of books are sold, the percentage of people buying books is pretty damn small. I realized that my buying habits must be making up for thousands of people who never buy a book.

I read about three children's books a night and then a book or two a week of my own - a no tv house, natch.

Also, saw a great piece of sculpture recently - a six foot cube of books glued together then hollowed out in the center in the shape of a sphere - smelled like a library.

Us Gawkerites are reading all day long, here, at work and then when we get home. Difficult for me to understand how the rest of the country can get along without reading!

Madame_Ovary

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Vitamin B12: I feel like an idiot sitting at my computer trying to figure out a way to say "book" so it doesn't rhyme with "look." Is VB12 screwing with us?

PrettyBitch

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Vitamin B12: You're secretly Canadian, aren't you?

kromelizard

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> That's how we pronounce it in Canada. Book rhymes with look.

That's how I say it, too. And I'm in Jersey. How else would you say book?

And I read all the time. Today, I just got 3 new books from Amazon.

Metschick

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Reading tip for the autumn: Buy as many books from Rhonda Byrne and Deepak Chopra that you can afford; toss the lot into a wooden burning stove, open a bottle of wine and crack open Moby Dick.

Greentax44

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I gots three words about reading for all of yall: fun dee mental.

Greentax44

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I didn't FINISH a single book last year, but I started a bunch. Probably 5 a month. I went off Adderall.

lovely nigerienne

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I gots three words about reading: fun dee mental

Greentax44

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Slackferno: This could be true - I bought my roommate "Where's Waldo: The Ultimate Fun Book" this summer to read at the beach, you know the one with the giants and the carnival of dwarves and sno cones? I know, it's my favorite too - but alas, he couldn't read it - turns out he's color blind.

No joke, that almost killed me.

Hienry

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Vitamin B12: That's how we pronounce it in Canada. Book rhymes with look. What's your accent?

gobblegirl

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @smartastic: Snark taken. I didn't mean to omit every book published. I'm just so fabulous and wonderful that I can't be bothered to read Johnathan Swift or his ilk.
(actually, I can't be that bitchy - I have an English degree so having to read as an assignment took all the joy out of it for about five years. I'm just coming back from the brink)


PimpMyCouch

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Excuse me, I'm hard of reading. What did she write?

NotAndersonCooper

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> "either everyone else on the planet is smarter than Americans..."

Obviously. Why do you think Bush is President? Can New York secede, please?



24-7

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> yes, book bindings are far more interesting to look at and browse than having to look at all those black words on a white pages. there are like hardly any pictures in there.

therealgoogle

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I personally buy books to lust after; my reading time is definitely limited these days with ADHD attention spans and blogs and all. But I've got an awesome floor-to-ceiling bookcase along an entire wall of my apartment. They're very pretty and colorful to look at.

nyobserver

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> *lights cigarette with library school degree*

kaflop

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I used to live in Mobile, AL. They didn't even READ the Bible, they just memorized the juicy parts. I am not saying the people from the South are stupid, just the people from Mobile, AL.

mindbling

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> And a majority of Gawker readers don't follow the link to read the actual article.

Lets be fair to Bob Ryan in Alabama, the lead in to his comment about not reading fiction states: "More women than men read every major category of books except for history and biography. Industry experts said that confirms their observation that men tend to prefer nonfiction."

HootieHoo

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Do audio books count?

Some of My Best Friends Are People

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Also, should "getting sleepy while you read" really be called a "habit?" If you know you're gonna get "sleepy" or aren't into reading, why bother, unless it's a sleep aid kinda thing.

lustylady

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I can firmly and proudly count myself among the 1 in 4 Americans, or 33% of Americans, who don't read.

GorgeousGeorge

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I can't imagine not reading. I think it's bomb shelter, time...

tunamelt

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I keep buying books, always with the intention of reading them - does that count?

ejcsanfran

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> "Hey Charlie...(cough cough)...gimme an ashtray and keep the pinot comin'...(cough cough)...i'm finally gettin' to the part where Margaret gets her period...(cough cough)...this Judy Blume is great."

ellagood

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Last year I read:

Arsenic Soup for the Hiptard Soul
7 Habits of Highly Annoying People
Scary Twatter: Revenge of the Bush

ModestProposal

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]>
If you look at the numbers for some of the authors we publish, a third of their sales are from audio books. Yes, a lot of people in flyover country don't read, but they do listen on their commute. The long range problem is that a particular group -- males under 30 -- aren't buying books. Will they become readers in the future? Doubt it.

smithhimself

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> This is why I never travel west of the Delaware river.

Clevertrousers

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @hfree: I appreciate that, thanks!

MsMuffinMcGuffin

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @miss_msry: Only if they are written by Paula Deen.

guevara284

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @smartastic: You are right. I live in a neighborhood where many of the wall streeters reside. And I regularly get the pleasure of listening to their literary conversations.

MsMuffinMcGuffin

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Slackferno: Hey man, don't go knocking Griffin and Sabine, that was some riviting stuff (when I was 14).

@LisaB: I wasn't knocking everyone in a flyover state, just trying to figure out how this state is possible and imagining that's it's the people stuck in their cars who don't have time to read that makes me feel a little better in my scared little heart. (These people may vote after all).

hfree

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @CafeConLeche: Unless it involves a pamphlet accusing Hillary Clinton of colluding with the devil to send all unborn babies to France that was placed on the windshield of their Ford F-350 while they were at Wednesday bible study.

(BTW, the thing about Hill is totally true)

guevara284

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @BrianVan: She's probably about to order some trans fats and may even dare to dance. In a bar!

tammyfey

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Vitamin B12: The person could have had a Russian Accent. . .

Doc Benway

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> One in four Americans probably CAN'T read.

I know I can't.

HookerfaceAnon

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> HOLY SHIT PEOPLE. Do you not see what's so wrong about this picture?

SHE'S SMOKING AT THE BAR!

We can't have people not reading books and smoking at the bar! That's something Satan would do!

BrianVan

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @picardia: Thank you. Let's flip this stat, shall we? One in four aren't reading. Therefore, Three out of four ARE reading. There. Don't you all feel better now?

flyoverstate

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @ascot-revival: You misspelled "impotency".

yellojkt

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @TedSez: In the margins. You should see Prz Hltn's library of rare, 18th century political pamphlets. All the engraved prints of the Earl of Shaftesbury are amended with a penis pointing at his mouth, and the words "sux dix" scrawled in retard-font.

Pope John Peeps II

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @picardia:

One book a year is hardly considered regular reading.

Do cookbooks count?

miss_msry

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> My publisher told me a sad story.

An ad agency was shooting a television commercial in a home in Marin County, California and needed about 2 dozen hardcover books as part of the background.
The affluent owners of the home that they were filming in had only 2 books in the entire house and so the crew went house to house asking for a few loaners.

In the end they had to visit 8-9 homes before they came up with the books. A few neighbors could only come up with magazines.

VeritasMan

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> "Books," you say? I don't understand -- where do the comments go?

TedSez

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Simple solution. Deep fryer meets publishing house. Crispy and educational.

sarahjessicaporker

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @PimpMyCouch: well, if you are going to read, it's important to only read the newest releases, since i'm sure you've exhausted the entire back catalog of literature published in the english language.
@LisaB: yeah, but we have our equivalent -- they're just rich and work on wall street.

smartastic

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Bush hates book people.

bonera

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> and those adults who are reading are apparently reading Dog The Bounty Hunter's autobio.

TakeBackWhatYouSaidAboutThor

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Red States Don't Read.

CafeConLeche

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Future study proposal -- chart the number of hours spent watching American Idol, BB8, The Hills, and any other "reality" excretia that fills the TeeVees these days. Overlay data on numbers of books read. I think you can see where this is going people...

Truculent

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Harry_Greek: Yes, but only if refer to them as "graphic novels."

MisterHippity

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I want to read more (really, I do), but none of the books that are being published these days appeal to me. I don't want to read chick lit. I'll stick with my dog eared copy of Adrian Mole , thanks.

PimpMyCouch

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I read comic books. Well, use to anyway. Does that count?

Harry_Greek

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Does the Foxy Brown thread count as a book?

Flashman

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @guevara284: Done & done. We can report from the field for Gawker Book Club while drinking kirs.
@MattGaymon: Tough challenge, but I'm up to it! After all, anything is possible in this best of all possible worlds, n'est-ce pas?

Pangloss

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I'm going to read "The Secret" and I'm going to visualize all these people reading, and if it doesn't happen it's because I didn't practice the Secret well enough. But at least I will have read a book.

Ed

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I only read books written by or scathingly reviewed by gossip bloggers. Last year: The Glass Castle and Bergdorf Blondes.

Slackferno

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Paris Hilton needs to open her Center for People Who Can't Read Good stat!

contradicto

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @LolCait: And Cheesecake Factory's has ads.

mathnet

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @FracturedAcetabulum:

I'll even look the other way while you slip a roofie in my book.

collegecallgirl

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @guevara284: You do have a point!

MsMuffinMcGuffin

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Everyone's waiting for somebody to pen the next great "Jonathan Livingston Seagull."

MisterHippity

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> My summer reading goal is to read the complete works of Noire. I can heartily recommend "Thong on Fire" but i'm also expecting great things from "Bitch Reloaded" and "Thug-a-licious."

bonera

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @so5minutesago: If James Frey has taught us anything, it's that everything you read in books is TOTALLY TRUE.

mcginstein

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Balk's Cock's autobiography will put an end to this disturbing trend toward illiteracy.

ascot-revival

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @guevara284: Scientists will soon discover that illiteracy is caused by a virus, too.
The terminal and incurable virus of living below the Mason-Dixon Line.

@hfree: I'm with you in killing the curve. I'm pretty sure I alone could keep my local Barnes and Noble afloat. I read like it's my job. The subway was made for reading and drunken naps...although I live in Philly and SEPTA is no MTA so I do the driving thing now.

mcginstein

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> My guess is those are the same '1 in 4' people who still approve of Pres Boy George who, if I recall correctly, has stated that he's pretty damn proud of the fact that he doesn't read either.

GothamTomato

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> How do matchbooks figure in that survey?

KarenUhOh

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I don't know, that Applebee's menu is pretty thick these days.

LolCait

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @LisaB: Yes, but I'd be willing to bet that places like Guntersville, Alabama has more than its fair share of idiots. Or people with mullets for that matter (the two are often interchangeable).

guevara284

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Obviously this survey was administered in a pre-"Manny Diaries" era.

BigmouthStrikesAgain

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Pangloss: Happy Birthday monsieur le docteur. Your job in the next year is to get every adult-onset diabetic in the heartland to read Voltaire. Go!

SchmatSchmaymon

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I had a girlfriend once who hated to read. By some miracle, she got interested and couldn't stop reading. However, it didn't seem to help her intelligence any. She remarked about a particular book, "I couldn't put it down. It's a real page burner."

BowlingForDollars

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Pangloss: I'm there. There's nothing I can stand more than a fat sober person, so France should be great.

guevara284

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Sadly, I fear that number's wildly inflated. No one wants to admit they don't read. Those same people claim to watch PBS while their Nielsen boxes register American Idol. No biggie. According to everything I read on the Internets print is dead anyway.

MisterLincoln

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @hfree: I'm from one of the flyover states and I read quite a bit. The AP just interviewed morons, (who happen to live everywhere.)

MsMuffinMcGuffin

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Fuck books. Fuck em right in the binding.

mark duffy

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @collegecallgirl: well put. Wanna get together and read later?

FracturedAcetabulum

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @HerbTarlick: Oh my god! You were me too?

mathnet

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Does YouTube count as a book? 'Cause if so, I still only read about two books last year.

Ha Ha Sound

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Considering so many people never even crack open a single book and two-thirds of those who do in this survey read the Bible and other assorted god droppings, I guess I should be relieved that the only books I see people reading on the train are either Harry Potter or those ghetto pornellas.

tammyfey

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> So, 75 percent of people ARE reading books regularly.

picardia

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Guys get sleepy after sex, too, but that doesn't stop them from buying it. I mean...having it.

collegecallgirl

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> This is why people who fancy themselves to be fiction writers--writers of adult, contemporary fiction--have to be basically delusional and a few fries short of a Happy Meal to even entertain the concept.

josh speed

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> "Fiction just doesn't interest me" ... "If I'm going to get a story, I'll get a movie."

Because if culture has taught us anything, it's that everything you see in movies is TOTALLY TRUE.

so5minutesago

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I am one in four Americans.

narnio

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> I was going to sit down with an epic tome this weekend but I dropped the book on the TV remote and was sucked into a "Rock of Love" marathon.

After two episodes, I was left with such a superiority complex I realized I could live out the rest of my days without making a single effort towards self-improvement.

Herb Tarlek

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Earlier this week, I heard someone pronounce "book" with the short "oo," like in "look."

What a moron. BOOK.

Vitamin B12

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @c_webb: blogspot.com

narnio

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]>
One in four Americans didn't read a single book last year and yet bookstores have grown so large that they have food in them.

Were we reading more in the 90's when the options were Where's Waldo, Magic Eye books, and Griffin & Sabine?


Slackferno

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @guevara284: No! Come to France with me! They don't get fat and there's champagne direct from the source!
@mathnet: Merci beauc, babe. Pangs end at 11:59 tonight. 13 hours and counting.

Pangloss

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Does the Family Circle Ultimate Collection book I read count?

Geezus H

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Of course people buy books...they buy whatever Oprah tells them to. If she told them to go back to VHS, the DVD industry would crash. But what percentage of those who purchase Oprah's books do you think actually read them? Surely, millions of housewives were not sitting at home reading Faulkner. I would say they made it through one, maybe two pages, before putting it down and unmuting Dr. Phil.


BillyKralik

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @Pangloss: Happy Birthday, Pang/Loss!

mathnet

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Don't worry ... As soon as they figure out how to make "Reality Books," everything will be fine.

c_webb

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> This is possibly the most depressing thing I've read all week. So not only will everyone be fat, they'll also be illiterate. I'm moving to Holland.

guevara284

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> @HeyThereKiller: somehow i ruined an already terrible joke by thinking the headline said something about parents...


i fold

HeyThereKiller

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Notice that the people quoted live in fly-over states, so they commute in their cars (or live in their cars). Taking the train every day is what feeds my reading habit. It's free reading time. I estimate that I read around 30 books last year, so I'm doing my part to kill the curve. But yeah, these people are morons.

hfree

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> It's my birthday and if I wasn't already depressed enough, now this. Christ!

Pangloss

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> My dad read Anne Rayndy's The Roadhead... depressing

HeyThereKiller

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Americans are buying plenty of books.

mathnet

]]> <![CDATA[One In Four Americans Didn't Read A Single Book Last Year]]> Well, there wasn't a new Harry Potter book last year, was there? So of course most people didn't read!

sexbot

]]>