Thought for the Day: Start a Book!

What should I read next?

As an English major who has loved reading since I was a little girl, I'm shocked at the statistics showing that many people rarely pick up a book. According to surveys one out of three teenagers hasn't read a book for pleasure IN A YEAR! Twenty-five percent of adults haven't read even one book in the past year either. People between the age of 15 and 44 read fewer than ten minutes a day. They are much more likely to be watching TV or interacting on social media. What a waste!

All of this is a matter of concern. Reading opens the world to us and offers tremendous growth in intelligence and thinking skills. Children who are read to six minutes a day significantly improve their reading skills.

And it is so easy these days. A person with a smart phone has a massive library at his fingertips. Personally, I don't like reading on my phone, but I have a paperwhite kindle that I read every night in bed. The advantage is that I don't need lights on and my husband can sleep without my bothering him. Right now I'm reading Chesterton's Tales of the Long Bow. The stories are short and great fun. They take common expressions like, "If that's true I'll eat my hat!" or "That will happen when pigs fly!" and turn them into stories where the protagonists fulfill the "impossible" expressions in humorous ways. What a great idea!