Is Reading In MT On The Decline?

Happy World Book Day! What was the last one YOU read?  A poll found a third of Americans haven't read a book in at least a year!

World Book Day was made it an official holiday in 1995 in the U.N.  It IS ON  April 23rd because William Shakespeare died 409 years ago today in 1616. He was 51 or 52 years old. No one is really sure. One of history's mysteries.

With that being said what was the last book YOU read?  If you can't remember, you're not alone.  A poll found a third of Americans haven't read a book in at least a year.

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According to NPR/ IPSOS 63% of us would like to read more, and 66% have a collection of books at home. If you are like me, they are probably lined up on a shelf like little trophies or decorative pieces. I buy a lot of books with full intentions of reading them but never have the time or too tired or other various excuses I can come up with. Excuses mostly. We have so many book stores around town but not only that you can get them in most stores and on-line! Target, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. So why are we not reading more?

Here are the top five excuses for not reading as much as we'd like to:

1.  "I don't have enough time because of other life activities."  43% agreed.

2.  "I prefer other forms of entertainment," 32%.  Like TV, video games, or TikTok.

3.  "I don't have enough time because of work," 25%.

4.  "I don't have enough time because of my kids."  25% of parents blame their offspring for making them a bad reader.

5.  "I have trouble focusing while reading," 22%.

People who do read were asked to name off their favorite types of books, and one category won by a landslide:  37% listed "thriller, crime, or mystery" as a favorite genre.  "Historical nonfiction" was next at 24%.

The rest of the top five are biographies (21%) . . . historical fiction (21%) . . . and fantasy (20%).  Sci-fi, self-help, and romance also made the top 10.