Is the Novel a Dying Art Form?

[Mike 03]

Poll question: Is the Novel a Dying Art Form?

I'm just curious whether or not my fellow DUers still--or even have time to--read novels anymore. I used to devour fiction, but lately it seems like a miracle if I have time to sit down and focus on a novel. Most of what I read is news or non-fiction, or textbooks. Full disclosure: As a writer, I do have a personal interest in the answers to these question.

[lostnotforgotten]

1. 2 Novels Underway Now - Suspect That The Future Is Something Kindle Like

eom

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. I just read in GQ

a great observation about Kindle, and that is that you can be reading the crappiest stuff in public on a Kindle, and no one will know.

[lostnotforgotten]

9. Stealth Novel Reading - I Like It

eom

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. Certainly not.

I read voraciously and take as many titles with dust on them as ones reviewed last week. As I've aged I've coem to appreciate non-fiction more, but whatever stack I'm reading this week has at least one novel.

[treestar]

4. I get them out of the library and read them

[mmonk]

5. I know reading and reading comprehension are.

[uppityperson]

6. I read novels, can't afford hard cover, do soft cover, library, used book stores, bookmooch.

To you as a writer, I am sorry but I cannot afford the cost of new books except on occasion soft cover ones. I use the library a lot, and used book stores/bookmooch/book trade sort of things.

Question to you as a writer, does a writer make more off hard cover books (aside from them costing me twice as much, do you make more of a percentage?)

[eleny]

7. #1 except that I mostly borrow fiction from the library

But I read all sorts and a lot. I've gotten much more into non-fiction since joining DU. But I need the fiction break and read as many as I can.

I read slowly but always have a book going.

[EFerrari]

8. I'm not sure art forms die. Sometimes, they take naps.

:)

[janx]

23. If that's the case, then this is one very long nap!

;-) The National Endowment for the Arts noticed a serious decline in those reading fiction or poetry 10 or 15 years ago.

[EFerrari]

26. I wonder if they just have trouble tracking.

And, I may be and may need to stay in abject denial!

What a strange little time this is.

[janx]

34. It IS a weird time.

The NEA report, as I recall (I'd have to look this up), was based on a poll. And now that I think of it, I have noticed a trend in things supposedly having to do with "reality"--not just television, but things that are supposed to be real in general.

For instance, if you look at Facebook or MySpace, you might find reactions to books as being "I don't do fiction--reality is stranger than fiction," etc.

This bothers me because it suggests a lack of imagination. What if paintings were primarily about things that actually happened? What if music (that's a dwindling one as well) were inspired just about things that actually happened?

A strange time indeed.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

10. I probably read about 50 books a year

The vast majority -- probably about 75% -- are fiction. I buy hardcover (just got Bolano's 2666 in hardcover, for instance), softcover and used -- just depends on the book and how much money I have to buy books that month.

Also, I've seen and used Kindle and don't much care for it. I like the actual tactile experience of reading and carrying books; I become more attached to them.

I realize that I'm a minority among Americans, but there are still a few avid readers around and about.

[BlooInBloo]

11. (facepalm)

The Novel is just fine.

It's possible that what we've come to recognize as *the standard physical implementation* of a novel, to wit, the hard/soft cover book, might be in the process of becoming obsolete. Or possibly not - time only will tell. Either way, that latter question has precisely *ZERO* relevance to the question of the the utility of the *literary form*.

[originalpckelly]

12. It's just that there's nothing novel about them any more.

I walk through a bookstore and it's like the same book/same story over and over again. Very few original ideas.

[enlightenment]

13. Good grief, I hope not.

And I hope I'm dead before things like Kindle kill off the book completely. I have at least four books going at any given point - different rooms, different books - but by my bedside at least one newer novel, one non-fiction, and one older 'classic' (This week it's a Linda Fairstein, David Hume's 'Dialogues concerning Natural Religion', and Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'History of the Kings of England').

[janx]

36. Kindle won't kill off the book.

I've been active in online literary circles since the early 90's. People then were talking about the "dead tree" (book) culture; Kindle is just another manifestation of that. Kindle's technology is impressive, but it's nothing like a good book, hardbound or soft.

[enlightenment]

45. I hope not - I would miss my collection of dead trees.

The feel, the sound, the smell . . . and that doesn't even consider the words!

[Fire1]

14. I read hard cover novels mostly.

[janx]

15. I don't fit into your categories, really, but I can tell you that

the interest in reading fiction has been on the decline for at least the past ten years. People are more interested in "reality" nonfiction--memoirs, etc.

Your post is a coincidence; I was just talking to my daughter about the need for a good novel. We were chatting about the Bronte sisters (how Jane Eyre was so much better than Wuthering Heights, etc., F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"--etc., etc.).

I'm a writer too (short stories), and I've found that there is a direct correlation between how much time I spend online and how much writing I don't get done. A good friend of mine, a retired editor who still occasionally edits fiction, actually seems to prefer the memoir genre now.

It makes no sense to me. The decline of fiction means the decline of imagination, no? :hi:

I teach, and so I still read, but these days I don't spend as much time reading before bed, for instance, just for the pleasure of it. So I appreciate your post! There is nothing like settling down into bed in a clean room with an open window and a Very Good Novel.

[EFerrari]

18. Memoir is inextricable from the novel, though, isn't it?

As memory is inextricable from fiction. :)

[janx]

27. Ha---good point!--you have a point in that those who write memoirs certainly

toss in some fiction, but it's really not the same form. Fiction is much more demanding. Autobiographical fiction is rampant these days and is almost indistinguishable from the memoir, but you've hit me with a subject that I have written about...I'm a little biased. Fiction is very demanding because you have to start with a clean slate. You certainly inject the writing with places and impressions of people from your past, but you're not just rewriting a script from days gone by.

[Cerridwen]

16. Not based on the length of my posts.

:)

edit to add: though perhaps my posts though of "novel" length, don't qualify for the status of "art form." LOL

I have to reply "other" as I still read novels as well as non-fiction but, I have 20 boxes of books so I'm not *buying* too many more these days. My friends and family are tired of schleping them everytime I move.

In point of fact, I've been re-reading from my personal collection more than reading much that's new.

[cliffordu]

17. ".....It was a dark and stormy night......"

[Acadia Blue]

19. I buy more paper novels because of the cost.

[Captain Hilts]

20. Not at all, but paying $32 for a hardback copy is.

[janx]

32. You don't have to do that.

There is Amazon, after all. ;-)

[Captain Hilts]

33. But it's nice to 'vote' for authors you like by buying at a non-discount price. nt

[FloridaJudy]

21. I hit the used-book stores

As well as the library, but I still probably buy something like two or three new books a month, most of them novels. I don't buy that many new hardbacks - I have a very limited budget - but if it looks like a book I might read a few times, I'll splurge.

[elocs]

22. I read so much online that I just don't feel like reading any novels anymore.

I like sci-fi, but every time I look at the library and find a good book on the recent shelves it's always book 4 of 5 or book 2 of 3 and the first book is never there.

[stillcool]

24. I go to the library every 2 weeks..

it's a habit, and if I don't have a book to read I have a hard time going to sleep. There has not been a time in my life that I didn't spend an hour at the library every week or two. Libraries and bookstores are like my church. I don't purchase novels, but I do buy non-fiction books.

[Donnachaidh]

25. novels aren't the problem -- reading and reading comprehension is dying

Most of the kids in my son's high school would rather use books to prop open doors than actually READ them.

Not surprising if you had a chance to visit the library, which has more EMPTY bookcases and is a total EMBARRASSMENT to any parent that believes children should READ.

I offered to give a large amount of books to the school and was turned DOWN. Supposedly they have some rigid approval process and the school couldn't be bothered to have to go through the process. :grr:

[janx]

30. But is this the cause, or is it the effect?

I've found through teaching that it's very obvious which students were raised reading and which were not. Fiction is something you read for fun! Reading comprehension is picked up by children that way through a kind of osmosis. They don't notice that they comprehend, but do, and they do because they want to find out what happens next in the story. The same holds true for adults when we actually allow ourselves the luxury time of reading before dozing off to sleep.

[exboyfil]

46. I'm glad for my older daughters circle of friends

They are all vocarious readers as well as being A and Honors students. My younger daughter reads at a pretty high level and loves to read as well (usually my two daughters trade off reading the same books).

Sigh other than Jack London it has been hard to get them excited about classical literature. They both read Tom Sawyer, but it is like pulling teeth to get them to read Huck Finn. They have sort of fallen into the genre phase (like I did about their age except my genre was SF). I am hoping they come back up eventually and start reading more classical literature.

It is a sign of the times that in her National Blue Ribbon Junior High, my oldest daughter is not reading any classics I remember from my 7th grade Honors English. They do not have a Honors English, and a coach teaches her English class. I so much remember the passion my Honor's English teachers brought to the subject, and I am afraid for the future of our society. I hope we become more than a nation of technocrats or worse, a nation of zombied video game players.

Our libraries are still pretty well stocked (Elementary and Junior High as well as two public libraries). You can find the classics without any problem. They are not checked out much though. The big things are Harry Potter (yes the kids are actually reading it and not just buying the books to impress their friends), the Warrior cat series, the Twilight series, and the Ember books.

I do find it amazing that in one generation timeless literature like London, Dumas, Twain, Stevenson, Doyle, and Verne has fallen so out of favor with this group (5th-7th graders). Maybe I just remember my own preferences as a kid.

This is coming from someone with a M.S. in Engineering. I rarely read anymore, but I am a voracious consumer of audiobooks when I exercise. I have been able to listem to many of the classics I have not visited in twenty years.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

64. Whenever I had an older teacher (40 or so years older than I) in elementary school

they read aloud to the class after lunch, always classic literature. It was a good way to get through the post-lunch slump.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. I WRITE THEM, and when I read them, these days in

electronic form, Sony reader

[sailor65]

29. I have a Kindle,

and I'd say I average one novel a week. If I had more free time I'd read more!

[Poiuyt]

42. How do you like it?

I haven't tried it, but I think I'd prefer a real book.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. I got a Sony Reader, and I love it

I didn't want to get the Kindle since they didn't have them in stock, and it is a long story

The Reader almost feels like paper and it is easy to read... I like it

[sailor65]

55. It could easily be the best thing I've bought

in years. I love to read, and I also travel a lot. Instead of trying to decide what books to have with me at any given time, I can have a whole bunch of them. I like to have several books going at once, and the Kindle is perfect for that without having to carry all the books. And the Kindle, like the Sony, uses the E-Ink technology, which gives you no eyestrain at all. And the battery life is unbelieveable because E-Ink only uses power to draw the screen, it does not need power to maintain the screen once it draws.


I also like being able to mark sections and make notes for myself. And the Kindle, once you buy it, comes with wireless service for life at no extra charge, which includes a nice lookup feature, and instant access to Wikipedia.

I've been a fan of real books myself over the years, but I fell in love with the Kindle immediately, as I suspect you might.

As funny as this may sound, the one big downside to the Kindle is that I have to turn it off below 10,000 feet when I fly!

I's be happy to answer any other questions you have, PM me anytime.

[EFerrari]

58. How about the font? Can you adjust the size? I downloaded a Vidal novel

and loved the instant access but found reading on the laptop really irritating. Maybe a Kindle would be more comfortable? BookTv did a segment on them a few months ago and I've been dying to know if actual users find them as comfortable as books.

[sailor65]

Yes, just a couple of button presses

and you have a wide range of fonts to choose from. I find it more comfortable than a book because sometimes I'll read long into the night and when my eyes get bleary but I can't bear to put it down, I just pop the font up one. It's awesome.

[EFerrari]

61. That's cool. If my mom knew how many nights I read straight through

she'd have a fit. I STILL can't tell her, lol.

Some people really like browsing in bookstores and the art of the book itself. I used to be and had a huge library. Nowadays, I'm mostly hooked on the words so maybe a Kindle would be right for me. Thanks, sailor65.

[sailor65]

60. Yes, just a couple of button presses

and you have a wide range of fonts to choose from. I find it more comfortable than a book because sometimes I'll read long into the night and when my eyes get bleary but I can't bear to put it down, I just pop the font up one. It's awesome.

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

31. I have always loved to read

but it's difficult to find the time with a full time job and so many other responsibilities. Another problem is I tend to want to read a book from cover to cover in one sitting. When you have to go to bed in order to get up early and go to work that can cause problems. One solution is books on tape. My boss travels long distances and has a group of friends he swaps books on tape with. They are kind of expensive so they all share them. He gives them to me before he turns them back in so I can listen to them on my commute to and from work. That gives me about an hour a day to listen. I wouldn't buy them myself because they're too pricey, but since he lets me listen to his it works out great. One great place to read a novel is in the airport and while on a plane. When I travel I usually take a couple of good books with me to read.

[nosillies]

35. other

I read voraciously, and I alternate between fiction and non-fiction.

I rarely buy a book. It's either the library or Kindle for me.

[Phillycat]

37. Now that I have an e-reader, I download them.

And occasionally even pay for them. :D Ahem, ALLEGEDLY.

[Deja Q]

40. It's better to pay; those who write as their livelihood kinda deserve it.

(granted, the RIAA, MPAA, and otherAA organizations have a point, but they only protect their own big biz interests. Not those who do the actual work for them.)

[Paulie]

38. Unabridged audiobooks

I spend 2-3 hours a weekday with my commute, so my Audible subscription is wonderful. I have 300 or so books and if I really like them I pick them up in paper as well. Heinlein, Herbert, michael a. Stackpole, Orson Scott Card, Richard k. Morgan, Bill Bryson, Ric Edelman are awesome in print and audio. A lot of of of print is available on in audio, so I don't have to hunt as hard at half price books for say Heinlien juvenile title like The Rolling Stones or Podkayne of Mars.

Then there are authors like Scott Sigler that give away a podcast of his novels while he writes then sells a bunch in print after the fact.

[Ewellian]

39. other...

I read several novels a week....on my Kindle.

[InvisibleTouch]

41. Other: I read plenty of novels...

...but I almost never purchase them anymore. I know I'll almost certainly never read a work of fiction twice (with vanishingly rare exceptions, and those are the ones I purchase - or if I simply loved it so much that I had to own it, whether or not I ever sit down to read it again), so it doesn't make sense to buy a book, read it once, and then have it take up space, or turn around and sell it for a quarter at the next garage sale. The same is true of most nonfiction that I read, incidentally; unless it's a reference book that I know I'll consult again and again, it doesn't make economic sense to buy it. The library is one of my favorite resources!

[Hardrada]

43. I am a writer also but primarily write history. I have written several

novels which are semi-autobiographical fiction which is so "rampant" as someone earlier remarked. I read,as one might guess, mostly history unless I remember there was some classic I never got around to reading so I try to catch up there. When young I was a Poet but soon realized what a moribund art THAT is.

[LWolf]

44. I read them.

I buy as many as I can, and have a scorchingly active account at the local library, as well.

While I have a hundred or so hardcovers, I tend to buy paperbacks because I can buy more books and they don't take as much room to shelve. Of course, they don't age as well, either, as some of my favorite old paperbacks, 2 and 3 and even 4 decades old, are hard to read without losing pages.

I read 2-3 novels a week, in addition to working a time-consuming job and taking care of, and enjoying, 4 horses, one ewe, 9 chickens, a dog, and a cat, and keeping up with family obligations.

[exboyfil]

47. I listen to probably 50 books a year

I try to split them in half between lectures/nonfiction and fiction. I probably read another 10 books/year (mostly nonfiction now). I am so tired at the end of the day that I usually fall asleep after a few pages. I also read my subscriptions cover to cover (Archeology and Scientific American) as well as my trade magazines (OEM Off Highway and SAE Automotive Engineering). I read a fair amount out of Business Week or The Economist (WSJ also).

[Odin2005]

48. I'm a voracious reader

My non-fiction reading is mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and alternative history, with a few classics thrown in.

[pipi_k]

53. My reading "career" started

when I was about 7 years old with the book, "Harry The Dirty Dog" :7


From then on, I've read more books than I could possibly name. Like you said...a voracious reader.


It's hard for me to imagine what it would be like if I couldn't read...

[Poiuyt]

54. Your NON-FICTION reading is sci-fi, fantasy, etc?

What kinds of fiction do you read?

[OnionPatch]

49. I read lots of fiction but I get it from the library.

My house would be full of books and I'd be broke if I purchased all the books I read. And yes, I love fiction. My favorite is historical fiction. I just finished Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, something a friend recommended. It was great. I think I'm going to read Roma next.

[tom_paine]

51. Other: 4-5 novels a year. 2-3 non-fiction a year.

Used to be a LOT more.

[pipi_k]

52. I mostly read non fiction books, but

I do enjoy a good novel every now and then.

I get most of my books used, on eBay, so I'm not really up on the "latest" novels


Not reading a novel right now, exactly...it's a collection of time travel stories from various authors

I live for books

:)

[Jim__]

56. I love to read and read about 5 or 6 novels a year, but ...

... I wonder if cheap, easy access to audio and video will make reading a somewhat esoteric skill.

[mentalsolstice]

57. Mostly read on my Sony Reader

Before I got the Reader, I purchased mostly paperback, mostly classic and modern literary fiction. Maybe 10% of my reading is non-fiction, mostly biographical and memoirs. My reading habits are still pretty much the same. I just wish there was more available for ereaders, in a universal format and without the ridiculous DRM restrictions.

[Ozymanithrax]

59. It is not the art form that has a problem...

It is the economic underpinnings.

There used to be a large number of small houses that published. They were modest companies that made modest profits. Like everything else, these houses have been bought up by big companies with big budgets that must taking in a lot of money to remain solvent. Big name authors are promoted and breaking in is incredibly difficult.

[fadedrose]

62. Hardly read any fiction till about 2-3 years ago, when

my daughter moved in with me while getting her divorce. She read fiction. On my SS budget, I did the best I could to buy books and on EBay ordered boxes of books and I got to keep the thrillers and she took the romance. Many of the books were beat, but my, what a variety of authors I discovered, some are still my favorites.

Since finding out what a marvelous library I have, I read books I can't afford to buy. I just check them out. I read loads of hardcover books every month and GOOD NOVELS ARE NOT A DYING ART. Good writers write good books.

I used to buy many nonfiction books either at the bookstore or ordered from some university catalog, mostly critical books on religion, Dead Sea Scrolls, odd stuff.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

63. I love mysteries and classic novels and some sci fi, but there's way too much

self-indulgent writing going on these days, boring upper-class people having midlife crises, as in Woody Allen's Interiors, his lame attempt to make a "Bergmanesque" movie. You can't be profound unless you have something to be profound ABOUT, and upper class Manhattanites running around and whining, "I want to do something creative" just don't cut it.

Mystery and sci fi writers have to keep the story going. They can't wallow. They make imaginative use of settings and characters.

I've read very few recent "serious" fiction bestsellers, because I read the reviews and think, "Oh boy, more self-indulgence."

[gratefultobelib]

65. I've always got a book going--fiction and nonfiction. I get nearly all from the library, though.

[SheilaT]

66. I read lots of novels.

Right now I'm not buying anything because I'm unemployed, and have re-discovered the joys of the public library. I may never resume buying lots of books, even if I start earning lots of money.

I read almost everything, lots of fiction, including science-fiction (NOT fantasy), mysteries, general novels, the occasional classic. I also read a lot of non-fiction on practically every topic out there. Some of the best stiff out there is being written by non American writers, Canadians, and immigrants from all over Asia.

I read anywhere from sixty to more than a hundred books a year (I've been keeping a book list for several decades now). I always have a book or two with me because you never know when you'll have some dead time to fill.

I haven't tried the Kindle or any other electronic book equivalent. I can't imagine they will ever truly replace real books. I can't imagine how you could pick up an electronic book and page back to find a passage you want to reread -- I have a strong visual memory, so I will know, for instance, that what I want to find is on the upper right hand side of the page, and just keep on looking there. Also, how do Kindles do for books with illustrations or photographs? Looking at a tiny in-screen version of a photo that was full sized is going to be a very different experience. It's one reason I'd rather read the hardback version of such books, so I can look at the photos in a larger format.

Plus, I've been known to read in the shower, and I'm not sure that would be a good idea with Kindle and its ilk.

[Neoma]

67. Although I buy and read more nonfiction...

I do, on occasion, read a novel here and there.

[JitterbugPerfume]

68. I love the look and the feel of books

and I read both fiction and non fiction . I love good sci fi, essays, and poetry from Alan Gingsberg to Shakespeare


I just love Books --all kinds of books!

[Orrex]

69. As long as a buying public values the aesthetic of an actual, bound book, books will be produced

And as an art form, the novel is doing just fine. Thousands of separate novels are published each year, and that doesn't even include reprints or anthologies.

[backtoblue]

70. I am obsessive compulsive...

I am a collector of books (a small collection, but a collection no less). Non-fiction is my analytical antagonist and Fiction is blissful escapism. I do wish I had more time to get lost in the pages of an enchanted tale...

[sazemisery]

71. Husband has threatened to open a branch library.

We have a published writer in the family, Hillary Jordan, and we both read voraciously. He recycles his books. I have a lot of signed 1st editions and would never part with them.

We had a discussion just last week about the Kindle and the future of the publishing houses, independent book sellers, etc. I am torn because I love new technology but love the feel of a hardcover book.