Reading’s still all the rage

I’m always skeptical when I hear about how the internet has changed people’s reading habits for the worse. Report after report claim that our attention spans have shrunk and that we no longer indulge in a good book.

The NEH, though, suggests that 84% of internet users are still reading books (with credit to library hero Stephen Abram for the report dissection). I’m constantly excited and pleased to see people engaging with great book-related websites, including LibraryThing, Good Reads, and Shelfari, among others.  Not only that, but there are hordes of book blogs, and as someone who loves reading other people’s reviews, I’m constantly surprised just how much these people can read in a week (let alone a month).

Although the report doesn’t speak specifically to non-fiction reading, I suspect that reading non-fiction is also high. Unlike literary or popular fiction, though, I think non-fiction often gets the wrap as not reading, since many readers read part of, and not necessarily all of, a non-fiction work (or they simply don’t see reading a book on how to crochet scarves as being reading in the same sense reading, say, Crime and Punishment is, even though all reading is reading).

Perhaps my favorite sign of people reading is the vast number of reading challenges in any given year. Google “reading challenges 2009″ and you will not believe the number of interesting, book-driven reading challenges. And it’s not just for hard cover books, either, as some of the challenges are specific to reading ebooks, listening to audio books, and other means of acquiring literary exposure.

Personally, I’m a Good Reads addict. I’m sad to say I’ve never done a book group outside my college’s literary society, but that’s something I certainly plan to seek out when we’ve settled in our new home town. As for challenges, I plan on participating in the 2009 classics challenge, wherein I plan to read 5 ‘classic’ novels between April 1 and December 31 (I’m a bit late to the game, but it’s better late than never, right?). I’m formulating my official list, which I’ll blog when I’ve got it, but so far, I’ve already finished my “bonus” book, The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dumus.

Are you participating in any challenges that are “officially” sanctioned by someone on the web? Are you participating in in-person or online book groups and discussions?