According to a 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, “Literary reading is in dramatic decline, with fewer than half of American adults now reading literature.”

Some people believe that books are “old technology” and will soon grow obsolete. To a book-lover like me, that sounds like a really bad idea. And I’m in good company, judging by the following quotes:

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. - C.S. Lewis

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. – Ray Bradbury

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. – W. Somerset Maugham

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. – Mark Twain

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If these quotes inspire you to read more, then you might want to join the members of the Page Turners Book Club, sponsored by the North Mason Timberland Library in Belfair. This group meets monthly on the third Wednesday of the month from 10 am to noon. The next meeting of this group is on April 16th (tomorrow). You can get information on upcoming book selections by calling the library at 275-3232.

And if you have any good book recommendations (I’m always looking for them), leave a comment and share them with us!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 4:45 am and is filed under Activities on the Olympic Peninsula, Recreation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.