Some years ago Philip Roth despaired at the dwindling number of what he called ‘real’ readers left in the United States, readers committed to reading serious books written by serious writers.
Back in the Day
By some arcane system of his own devising Roth came up with an exact figure, one which I forget, but by his calculations there were only somewhere around five thousand of these ‘real’ readers left in the country.
Roth was reaching a point in his career where he was finding it harder and harder to see the point in writing books anymore. He also was mourning the loss, I think, in the importance of books and literature in American cultural life. But then Philip Roth has gone through several periods throughout his long and storied career (the awards he has received by themselves take up one full page on his bio sheet) when he was in despair over the nature of the book business.
Who could blame him?
Depending on who’s doing the telling, serious literature has been in serious decline for pretty much ever, a victim of benign neglect or communal and/or commercial indifference. And as many now know, Roth finally gave up writing altogether a couple years ago, and recently gave up (or so he says) reading, too.
Philip Roth threw this ‘five thousand readers’ number around for some time until a friend pointed out to him that while five thousand might not seem like a lot, if he was to line up all those people and have them pass one at a time through his living room, while he shook each of them by the hand, that by the time he got to the end of that line, Roth — any writer, for that matter — likely would be reduced to tears.
Neglect, I guess, is in the eye of the beholder.
Which brings me to one of my new favorite sites on the Internet machine, The Neglected Books Page. Founded in 2006, the site features reviews of books that have been, according to the site, ‘neglected, overlooked, forgotten, or stranded by changing tides in critical or popular taste.’
(click here)
That the site is (apparently) the work of one man does not surprise me at all. I can’t think of many other sites where I more enjoy getting lost for a couple hours just clicking around and seeing what I find.
While similar in some ways to the popular Good Reads site, The Neglected Books Page has a decidedly less commercial, more homespun feel. (And this is not a knock on Good Reads, which is an excellent site and hugely popular for good reason.)
Check it out.
Dogpatch Writers Collective 
The terrain has changed, but I can’t help but wonder if serious readers are growing… at least on line. There is some seriously great writing going on, and for me, that often leads me back to books. I’ll never get tired of the smell, the feel, the beauty of books. One day, I hope someone reads mine. 😉 Addictive site… thanks!
I think serious readers are finding each other and their community online. And I enjoy that community. But the act of reading books, for me, is still a tactile one. Can’t imagine a life without books.
Nor could I!
And you know what, Wes? You’ve now made me a full-fledged neglected book review addict. I’ll never get anything written again….
Oh, you have enticed me, Wes! I will “click here” when I’m done writing this comment. In addition, I’ll be publishing a post soon on art books on my blog, so you’ll have to drop by there and take a look at a few more “serious” books. Stay tuned….