TIME IS RIPE
Saturday, August 28, 2021
Reading books matters so much to those who read.
What matters to people who don’t read?
This seems to be an essential question for me – as someone with a book ½ in the computer/ ½ in my head. I googled around. Most data I found is from American sources. According to Bookly, the US is the undeniable leader when it comes to reading. Last year, American readers started 1,207,937 reading sessions. That’s about nine times more than in China, the second leading country, which only registered 125,313 reading sessions, and the UK, which only registered 100,661. And that’s for books you hold in your hand, not counting audiobooks, PODcasts and other ‘alternative ways’ to learn or to be entertained.
And, it seems, the most avid readers of books are adult women.
Note to self: write for them …
My late friend and mentor Frank Dabbs used to ask me, “Mark, if you are going to write your book, ask yourself what shelf it will be on in the book store.”
I struggle with that question still.
If I was to write some kind of a ‘thoughts book,’ where would it sit – in which section of the bookstore?
And I’m uncertain still where a book of Musings should go.
My novel project is stalled again, but I feel the time is ripe for a re-start and a re-think.