'Why we read books'
An article in a recent edition of the New York Times was headed: A Good Mystery: Why We Read Books. At a time when the book seems more than ever before to be under pressure from the competition of the Internet, TV, computer games and so on, it is important to remember that millions of people across the globe still read books.
In third world countries they thirst for them, seeing them as part of education and a way out of poverty. Some of the best charities working to assuage this hunger, such as Book Aid InternationalSupplies much-needed books to developing countries, raising funds from publishers and general public; 'Reverse Book Club' is masterly idea-for just £5 ($10) month you can provide 48 books to go to where they're most needed, are doing terrific work to shift some of the books we take for granted in the West to countries where they will be better appreciated. Their inspired Reverse Book Club means that a donation of just £5 ($10) a month can provide no less than 48 books a year to readers in the developing world.
Reading is a uniquely private matter. Sara Nelson, editor in chief of the US trade journal Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/, says: 'Why people read what they read is a great unknown and personal thing.' Alan Bennett's novella The Uncommon Reader imagines the Queen suddenly becoming a voracious reader late in life through reading Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love.
For many children it was Harry Potter which turned them into readers, but whatever it is, the pleasure of reading is that it is something which will stay with you throughout your life. As long as your eyes hold up, books will continue to offer a fantastic range of experience, stimulating your imagination, extending your horizons and taking you to another world of fiction or fact.
Dean Koontz, who sells about 17 million copies of his books a year, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the web is 'a low-cost way of generating a connection between writers and their audience'. The Internet does indeed provide wonderful ways of linking the very private world of writers, readers and the books they read. The success of sites such as BookCrossing, which enables people from 130 countries to liberate books into the world, show the strength of the urge to share.
Bookmooch A new means of international book exchange facilitated by the web. Participants create an inventory of what they have and a wish list of what they are looking for. Enables people from 130 countries to liberate books into the world, showing the strength of the urge to share. Let your books go - and they will find new homes...
So can we move into the New Year with confidence that readers will still clamour for books? In richer countries bookshops are thronged with keen readers and the Internet is offering new ways to find them and share them around. In spite of all the concerns about literacy, the thirst for books remains unabated. We are a long way yet from seeing anything which will replace them.
