How Not To Act Old

Monday, June 23rd, 2008...12:25 am

#42: Torch Your Books

If you don’t want to act old, you’ve got to stop reading. Everything except Harry Potter, of course. And whatever is this season’s DaVinci Code. And of course, my books.

But studies show that reading books is in decline among people in all age groups, though most especially the young. Fiftyish women are the most likely to read books (surprise, surprise), while young males are playing Grand Theft Auto or looking at internet porn instead.

If you’re not about to trade in Anna Karenina for Niko Bellic (if you don’t know who that is, ask your teenage son), you may want to revisit your youth by reading Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying, to remember why you starting having sex with everybody you could get your hands on; Sue Miller’s The Good Mother, to remember why you stopped; and Sheila Weller’s Girls Like Us, to remember the women you wished you were (and are ultimately glad you’re not).

3 Comments

Filed under Books

3 Comments

Lexi
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:50 pm

No, no, no… don’t stop reading books. Read trendy books. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is a good bet. If you want to read Anna Karenina, do it online through http://www.dailylit.com. They’ll send little bits of novels to your inbox every day, and it’s totally young to read a novel as long as you do it on your iPhone. (I’m eighteen, btw. Young enough that walking around with a massive tome under my arm like a football makes people think I’m trying to get my summer reading done.)
Amelia
August 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

Calling bullshit here – lots of people don’t read books, but I’ve never gotten any flak from my friends for having an awesome 70s SciFi collection – it’s retro and cool. Bookwise, the graphic novel is coming back (Watchmen).
CS
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:27 pm

Ridiculous. Reading quality books, magazines and articles is good for one’s mind. Society is too tech dependent and too tech crazy. Important to have a balance.

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