NEA reports increase in reading

The New York Times reports that the National Endowment for the Arts finally has some good news for us. For the first time in over 20 years there has been an increase in fiction reading among adults in the US. Nearly all groups regardless of age, gender, or race reported an increase, although it's still not as high as it was in 1982 or 1992 there has been a bump.

After years of bemoaning the decline of a literary culture in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts says in a report that it now believes a quarter-century of precipitous decline in fiction reading has reversed.
The report, “Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy,” being released Monday, is based on data from “The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2008. Among its chief findings is that for the first time since 1982, when the bureau began collecting such data, the proportion of adults 18 and older who said they had read at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the previous 12 months has risen. More

There is some speculation that the wild popularity of Harry Potter and Twilight has something to do with it. I would argue that that is true, but I would also argue that the increase in major motion pictures based on books has something to do with it as well. TV and movies engage people with great cinematography and costume, but ultimately it is the story that grabs people and with the success of the Harry Potter films, and these others:
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Reader
Dead Until Dark (now the HBO series True Blood)
Twilight
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Hours
Bridge to Terabithia
The Secret Life of Bees

I think that these great movies reminded people that great stories lie in words on a page.

A good day for readers and proponents of reading everywhere.