Reading Between the Lines

By (amended by )

Do you like reading books? The British do.In fact a recent survey showed that reading is a more popular pastime among British adults than sex! Yet British libraries have been getting fewer and fewer visitors over the last couple of decades, so just what is going on?

Reading as a pastime is in good health in the UK, but how we read is changing hugely.The ‘book’ as a physical object might be dying…

In 1997, the Net Book Agreement in the UK ended.The Agreement existed between UK bookshops and publishers, and fixed minimum prices for all books.With the end of the Agreement, books began to be discounted,and now they are much more affordable for British people.There is no doubt that one of the reasons for British libraries having fewer visitors is that books can now be so cheap to buy.Sales of books in the UK are always relatively healthy.They even go up during an economic downturn because people choose to stay in with a book rather than go out to a restaurant.

But what is a book? According to the Oxford dictionary, it’s ‘A written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers’.But is that definition still valid?Because now we are right in the heart of a reading revolution.E-books and their digital reading devices,audiobooks, multimedia books: we read in different ways now, using new technologies.But never mind thehow,let’s look atwhatthe British like to read.Here are a few of the most popular genres…

Fantasy

The UK has always been famous for its stories of magic and wizardry.There are strong cultural memories of the druids who built Stonehenge and ruled the country before the arrival of the Romans or Christianity.Shakespeare wrote fantastical plays:The TempestandA Midsummer Night’s Dream, for example.Frankensteinwas born when the infamous English poet Lord Byron invited Mary Shelley and others to create horror stories when holidaying in Geneva.It is part of a great British ‘Gothic’ tradition.J.R.R.Tolkien is credited with creating the modern genre of fantasy, withThe Hobbitin 1937, but there was also a lot of fantasy in the work of H.G.Wells, who publishedThe Time Machinein 1895.And the tradition of British fantasy is still alive and kicking.Everyone’s heard of J.K.Rowling and the humorous, recently deceased, Terry Pratchett.You might also have heard of Philip Pullman’sHis Dark Materialstrilogy too, as the first book was made into the filmThe Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman.In fact, the fantasy genre is so popular that new sub-genres such as ‘metaphysical fantasy’ and‘steampunk’ are now emerging.

Chick lit

Chick lit refers to books that are written about and for modern women.The most famous example is probablyBridget Jones’s Diary,by the British author Helen Fielding.Titles in this genre are usually about complicated love lives, modern working life and trying to remain healthy.These books usually contain humour or a ‘feel-good’ factor.In many ways, they represent escapist fantasy, but they are popular because they deal with day-to-day topics.

Crime

The UK is known for its ‘detective fiction’ and ‘murder mysteries’.A couple of the most famous British authors in this genre are of course Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who started theSherlock Holmesstories in 1887, and Agatha Christie, who created the detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.These characters are still popular on television and in film.There’s the Hollywood film with Robert DowneyJr and Jude Law, directed by Guy Ritchie, and then there’s the ongoing BBC Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.And there are many contemporary popular British authors of crime fiction: P.D.James, Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter.

Celebrity (auto)biographies

It seems that every minor celebrity has written a book these days.They’re not really serious authors and are simply cashing in on their ‘15 minutes’ of fame.Many of their books are ‘kiss and tell’, i.e.they’re of interest to readers only because of the secrets they reveal about other famous people.A number of the books are not even written by the celebrity themselves—rather, they have been written by anonymous ‘ghost writers’.Even so, this genre is popular because the celebrity culture is well developed in the UK.

Leading contemporary British novelist Will Self, author of eleven literary novels, claims the novel is dying.But I don’t think there’s any need to call in Sherlock Holmes to investigate this particular death just yet.Are bookshops dying out because of websites like Amazon? Not really.The British are bibliophiles and love to browse in bookshops, particularly when there is a coffee bar within the store.So, are libraries completely disappearing in the UK? Well, nearly 500 libraries have closed down in the last five years.But that isn’t just because of reader demand,it’s also down to government cuts in public spending.And the library is adapting: most now offer computer access and training as well as books for borrowing.Finally, 62 per cent of British parents read their children bedtime stories and none of us can see that tradition changing soon.So long live the book!

Fun corner

Look at the clue and then solve the anagram.All the words are related to the genre of fantasy.

1 The Prince was turned into one of these: G F O R

2 A wizard waves this to cast a spell: N W D A

3 You might find one of these on a wizard’s hat: T A R S

4 A witch mixes her ingredients in this: C L D R N O U A

5 A witch rides one of these: B R M S T C K I O O

6 They live in the forest: V S L E E

Word of the day

Someone who reads a lot is called ‘a(chǎn) bookworm’.‘He always has his nose in a book.He’s a right bookworm!’

Activity 1: Genres

Look at this list of book genres.For each genre, decide if they are fiction (F) or non-fiction (N).

1 romance

2 social history

3 fantasy

4 celebrity autobiographies

5 thrillers

6 crime

7 horror

8 chick lit

9 self-help

10 popular science

Which ones do you read?

Activity 2: Multiple matching

Match the statements below to the correct genre: fantasy (F),chick lit (CL), crime (CR) or celebrity autobiography (CA).More than one answer may be possible for each statement.

1 Films have been made based on the books of British authors

2 Specific sub-genres are mentioned

3 Is more about money than art

4 Popular British writers from both the past and today are mentioned

5 It might make you laugh

6 It comes from some of the oldest ideas and traditions in UK culture

Activity 3: Multiple choice

1 Why don’t British people use libraries as much as they used to?

a Because there are no coffee bars in libraries

b Because people don’t read as much as in the past

c Because books are cheaper than they used to be

2 Why is British fantasy so popular?

a Because of the druids

b Because it is a part of the British cultural identity

c Because there are so many British fantasy authors

3 What does the author of the article think will happen to books in the future?

a They will stay popular

b They will become more popular

c They will be replaced by computers