Book Lovers: Becoming Extinct?

It saddens me that books are dying. And dying the worst kind of death, too -- slow, desperate, and painful. It's becoming harder to chat up a co-worker about Joyce Carol Oates' latest or share musings on The Poisonwood Bible. People are just not reading as much as they used to.

It's easy to see why: with the influx of instantly gratifying things like the Internet, TiVo, DVDs and reality television, it seems curling up with a book is A., too time consuming, and B., old-fashioned. It now feels like people are buying books just to see if said book lives up to its hype. Which is a really bad place for authors and books and readers to be.

I guess I'm upset that fiction sales are declining, and now one has to write about forensics or murder or both in order to register on a best-seller list. Plus, I'm smarting over the numerous articles that keep reminding me that 20,000 is the new million. When back in the day (you choose a date), 20,000 copies sold was considered bomb-status.

I'm sure this decline of books probably started in the '50s, when television swept the land and one could view characters in live action, with the help of a clunky box and an antenna, instead of in a thick, cozy novel.

Being honest: books are a time-consuming product. A reader can't just flop down on the couch and flip to a chapter and say, "Okay, that's enough for the week." A reader wants to continue the story, often staying up to the wee hours of aurora to take in as much as they can about the book. And of course, there's that Book Guilt thing to deal with -- a condition thrust upon us from the young Seuss ages, where we were derogated by our peers if we didn't finish a book. It was as if not finishing a book was some testament to our apparent dumbness, our inability to stay focused or entertained by words on a page (which now is being called ADD, and comes with medication). I fear people just don't want to subject themselves to it. Nor are they willing to shell out $20-$30 on something that takes up their precious time or keeps them from enjoying the latest CSI show.

It irritates me that television shows and movies are now the "new books"; they're condensed offerings at vastly cheaper prices and with a broader appeal. While we book lovers continue to diminish and search desperately for someone to discuss The Rule of Four with.

Books and their lovers are becoming increasingly isolated. And it seems our extinction is damn near imminent.