If you'd like me to participate in your club, by the way, just send me an e-mail at brian@bfreemanbooks.com. I do call-in discussions all the time around the world. I've been known to be up in the middle of the night talking to readers in Australia,so calling to New Jersey or Oregon is no problem!
There are other signs of enthusiasm in the reading community. People laugh about the silver bullet influence of Oprah's recommendations on the bestseller list, but I think it shows that people are hungry for good books, and they're looking for recommendations on which they can rely. Also, every time I hear that young people don't read anymore, I look at my Facebook page, where many of my most enthusiastic fans are readers in college or in their 20s. They're always pushing me to hurry up on the next book.
People have responded to great stories for centuries, and I don't think that's really changing. We just need to make sure that we work together to help people of all ages - not just kids - enjoy the power of reading. Book clubs, librarians, booksellers, schools, authors, publishers, reviewers - we can all help spread the gospel. If you look at the phenomenon of The Da Vinci Code a few years ago, you can see the book drawing in millions of new readers who may not have cracked a book in years. That's an encouraging sign. We just need to give them a reason to come back.
Ironically, maybe the struggling economy will help. After all, a book offers pretty good entertainment value for the dollar.
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