You might remember a post I wrote not too long ago about a recent survey that found Americans, in general, didn’t read a lot of books. But now, according to an article on NPR’s website, those figures can be broken down even further to say that woman read more than men:

Among avid readers surveyed by the AP, the typical woman read nine books in a year, compared with only five for men. Women read more than men in all categories except for history and biography.

I’m actually not very surprised. Most reading groups and book clubs I’ve heard of are dominated by women. However, in the English department at the college I went to had a fairly even mix of men and women. Maybe the younger generation of literary buffs is spread more evenly among the sexes.

Yet surveys tend to suggest otherwise, especially for fiction:

When it comes to fiction, the gender gap is at its widest. Men account for only 20 percent of the fiction market, according to surveys conducted in the U.S., Canada and Britain.

Only 20%? I knew it was low, but come on, that’s not even a quarter of the fiction market!

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Burning books is usually associated with censorship and can be seen as the ultimate act of literary protest. But one small bookstore in Kansas City, Missouri burned hundreds of books for quite a different reason: they were protesting the decline of reading in America:

"We hope to spark a conversation about the importance of books in the face of a marked shrinking in reading trends, and staggering waste streams of actual books," said Prospero’s Books owner, Tom Wayne.

Whether or not burning books is the right way to get the message across is up for debate. There’s no doubt, however, that the act can certainly raise emotions. When I saw the headline of a book burning this morning, I thought "Oh no, here we go again, another attempt at censorship". So I was surprised to read that the book burning was really a protest of the decline of reading. But don’t think that these bookstore owners didn’t try to give the condemned books a proper home first:

Prospero’s has publicized for months that it was looking for a good home for thousands of books, and saying it would burn the books if no one wanted them.

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When most people think of China, they might think of a large communist country that will soon host the Olympic Games. Or they might think of a country that is a growing trade partner with the United States – especially in light of all the recalls of defective products that have been making headlines lately.

One thing people probably don’t think of about China is literature. But thanks in large part to the internet, reading and writing novels has become the chosen hobby of millions of Chinese youth. In fact, according to a recent article published on Wired, the internet is boosting print sales of novels and even the word "novel" is the number one search term on the Chinese search engine Baidu.

"Novel," the top search term on China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, yields thousands of Chinese literature websites. More than 100,000 amateurs shirk mundane duties to publish their tales of fantasy and love in installments on these platforms. A handful of anonymous web authors have seen their pageviews soar into the upper seven digits. When that happens, print publishers come knocking.

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We are finally getting a break from the severe weather we’ve been having. Last night kept me on my toes because the power went out at random times. Each time the power went out, I’d go upstairs to my office, light a few candles and read. No computer. No television. Not even music to listen to (the battery in my iPod was dead).

I began to think that if the storms hadn’t blown through and the power stayed on, I probably would have spent a good deal of time online working on this blog, reading through my list of other blogs and literary-related websites, and I hate to admit it – watching television!

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Ever wonder why the publishing and bookselling industries are in a slump?  Here’s one reason: according to an article published by Yahoo! news, one in four adults said they didn’t read any books during 2006. That’s a lot of people not reading and a lot of books not being read.

One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and seniors were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

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Back when I was in the eighth grade and I first caught the "writing bug" the only thing I was interested in was science fiction. It was all I read, and all I wrote. I’m not sure if any of my early writings from that era have survived, but I’m sure I’d probably cringe if I read them again.

But what I find even more interesting is how my tastes in literary genres have changed over time. Like I said, the first genre I really got into was science fiction, then it morphed into more mainstream/popular fiction. After that was my mystery phase, where I only wrote and read mysteries. Many of those stories I still have and I’m afraid if I dust them off to read them again, they will spontaneously burst into flame for being so bad.

After my mystery phase, and around the time I started college, I began reading more literary fiction. The kind of fiction where the plot takes a back seat to character development and an entire short story could only span five minutes in the fictional world. As I progressed through literary fiction, I also started reading the classics.

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The month of August usually signals one thing: the start of a new school year is closing in fast. Of course, my university recently kicked me out with a Bachelor of Arts degree, so I have no such thing to look forward to, but many college-bound freshman are starting to pack their bags!

A trend at many colleges and universities around the country is to assign these first year students a book to read during that three-month time warp between high school graduation and the first day of college classes. These summer reading programs are really nothing new. But they are becoming "trendy" and starting to catch on at more campuses around the country:

Nationwide, hundreds of colleges and universities, large and small, public and private, assign first-year students a book to read over the summer, hoping to create a sense of community and engage students intellectually.

Creating a sense of community and challenging new students is great, but I hope that they also aim to show these kids that reading outside of an academic setting can be fun. Having a casual conversation (or even a light-hearted argument) about a book is much more fun than essays, literary theory, criticism and all the other secret weapons English professors like to throw at their students.

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Once upon a time an aspiring author had to jump through hoops, fire, an army of dragons, and maybe even a few lava fields to get on the road to promote their new book. And even then there was no guarantee that anyone would show up. In fact,  it’s not all that uncommon for an author to hold a book signing and no one comes. Sad, isn’t it?

Thanks to the internet, which is once again proving itself as the "great equalizer", the infamous book tour is now becoming a little easier.

A new website, booktour.com, connects authors and readers alike. Authors can set up their own free page (yes, it’s all free) that promotes their upcoming signings, speaking engagements, and other public events. And readers can sign up to receive news about appearances their favorite authors will be making. But it’s much more than that. Any organization, whether it’s a local college or a public library, can set up author speaking engagements through the booktour website.

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What books do you imagine filling a CEO’s library? Actually, this question can be broadened from CEO to anyone who has reached a high level of success in life. You might be thinking business books, investor guides and other dry writing that would have most of us asleep in seconds. And you’d be wrong.

Many of the most successful people in the business world today have a surprisingly literary library, where non-fiction business books are the rare commodity. According to an article from the New York Times, these high-powered movers and shakers seek something else from their reading material:

Serious leaders who are serious readers build personal libraries dedicated to how to think, not how to compete.

It’s hard to describe the subtle difference that the above passage is trying to convey. A business-oriented book, for example might give successful sales strategies by laying them out in layman’s terms so the reader can easily absorb the main point without much thought. In other words, the point of the book is being spoon fed to the reader.

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I know what you’re thinking: "Another post about Harry Potter?" Yeah, I know. To be honest, now that the final book is out, I promise this will be one of the last Potter posts for a long while.

Whenever a series as popular as Harry Potter hits the reading public, there is bound to be criticism. Not everyone will be a fan – that’s to be expected. But in the case of the Potter series, I haven’t read a lot of criticism at all. Maybe I’m just not paying attention. Maybe I’m reading all the wrong newspapers, magazines and websites. I really don’t know why, but heavy Potter criticism doesn’t seem to be out there.

One thing I have really been interested in, is knowing what academics think of Harry Potter. I’m talking about literary theorists and old grouchy college literature professors. I finally got my wish the other day in my email inbox in one of my many Google Alerts I receive regarding literature.

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