Book reading among New Zealand men is continuing to fall, with nearly 80 percent of Kiwi males reading books less than they used to.
The trend was highlighted in the 2022 National Reading Survey, carried out by Horizon for Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly the NZ Book Council).
Of those surveyed, most preferred to read books in print over other formats, men are more likely to read New Zealand poetry than women, and 82 percent of respondents with young children read to them once a week, but 7 percent 'never' do.
Read NZ chief executive Juliet Blyth talked with Jim Mora about the findings, and how to get people reading books again.
Photo: Unsplash / Lilly Rum
Blyth said the number of people who read books is similar to the last survey in 2018, but they are reading less: an average of 22.8 fiction books a year in 2018, and 17.7 books in 2021.
A focus group assembled recently by Read NZ showed many men said they read widely when they were children, but read less after they began work or started families.
Lack of time was the main reason given, but many said other activities were easier and they believed they read slowly and had trouble returning books to libraries before they were due.
As their children became older they felt reading books was made less accessible by their children's requests for screen time.
"But they were all interested in reading, and all recognised the importance of their children reading," Blyth said.
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Blyth said reading with children has many benefits for both parents and children, and even five or ten minutes a day spent reading together is worthwhile.
The ideal scenario of having hours to sit and read isn't the only way to do it, she urged.
"Say: 'I'm just going to read ten minutes before work', instead of doomscrolling through my social media feeds - 'I'm just going to put that down and read ten pages', that's the way I approach my own reading."
There was less of a fall in the amount of non-fiction read than fiction. Whereas the amount of poetry read increased, with more men reading poetry than women, and more Māori and Pasifika poetry readers than other ethnic groups.
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Most people surveyed said public libraries are their go-to place to get books from, and 46 percent said they would read more if they could find an interesting book.
Blyth said the right book can restart a life of reading.
"Sometimes if you haven't read for a while you forget what you like, and you might need to think back to what you enjoyed as a child, because it would seem that most people were readers to one extent or another as children, and the things that you liked as a kid - the themes are probably the same as an adult.
"That might just help give people a steer, because otherwise I think it can be very overwhelming to walk into a bookshop or library, not having read of a while, and go 'where do I start?'
"Read what you like! If you haven't read for a while I'd suggest starting with War and Peace is not the way. Also if you're not enjoying it, put the book down and find another one - the more I read the more comfortable I am putting a book down if I'm not enjoying it."
The survey showed 96 percent prefer print books to other formats.
"Print is still so convenient, the artifact of the book - it sounds like such an old-fashioned term, but it still has so much meaning for people," Blyth said.
"But there's many people who are reading a print book, and as they walk to work they might be listening to an audiobook, and perhaps at night when they don't want to create partner disturbance they're reading off an ebook.
"So I think what we've come to is that any and all formats should be read what it suits us."
