Tiffany Painter

Everywhere I look these days I see reports about the decline in reading for fun. Just today the paper reported that data from 2003 to 2023 found a 40% decline in people who read daily for pleasure. Only about 16% of people read! When I read the news, I see the results of this decline with every headline. We live in a society that lacks empathy, imagination, reasoning, and cognitive skills. Reading helps people develop all of these skills. Another benefit of reading is its influence on mental health. I don’t think there is a study out there that claims reading has a negative impact on anyone’s brain development the way social media does. We live in a time where connecting with stories is so easy: books, e-books, audio books. A library card and a device can get you an electronic book or audio book without even leaving your home. With Bookshop.org you can order a book delivered to your mailbox and still support independent bookstores. I wish we could hope for an improvement with the next generation, but sadly, only about 2% of people with children under 9 years old read to those kids. As a writer of middle grade books, all I hear is this market is dead. That means the ones who have developing brains are using video games and technology rather than books to prepare for their future. According to my book tracker, I have read 70 books so far this year. That covers everything from children’s book through adult, audio and traditional. Yes, it is more than most people can expect, but writers need to read a lot for their craft. (It’s my favorite part of what I do.) All that reading helps build my imagination and I like to imagine a world where people read just a book a month, even a book every other month. That world would be a better place full of people who care about one another and have the skills needed to solve problems that creates a more desirable society. So, please do your part to bring reading back. (My statistics came from an article in the New York Times by Maggie Astor.)

Some of my favorites this year: (very hard to take 70 down to 10)

• By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
• My Friends by Fredrick Backman
• The Names by Florence Knapp
• Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven
• She Doesn’t Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Mike
• Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins
• The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road by E.A. Hanks
• Wish by Barbara O’Connor
• I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak
• Away by Megan E. Freeman

9/18

watching from a perch
above the people and dogs
hidden in plain sight

9/20

silent rock watching
resting amongst the flowers
greeter at the beach

9/23

new season arrived
summer days made way for fall
golden hues enchant

9/25

leafy fall backdrop
yellow with a tinge of green
highlights true beauty

9/27

looming from afar
snow frosted mountains remind
seasons always change