books -- the new sex

There's cheery news in a recent Reuters report:

 

Books a must-have even in sluggish economy

Mon Feb 1, 2010 5:36pm GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - During tough economic times when U.S. consumers are trying to cut back the indulgence they can't seem to live without is books.

Three-quarters of adults questioned in an online poll said they would sacrifice holidays, dining out, going to the movies and even shopping sprees but they could not resist buying books.

Dining out came in a far second with only 11 percent of Americans naming it their top indulgence, followed by shopping at 7 percent, vacations at four and movies, which was chosen by only 3 percent of Americans.

The cheeriness has to be qualified in that these are results from an online poll, so a certain amount of self-selection is obviously involved. Also, there's no control over people lying: there might well be respondents who merrily claim a love of literature they do not in reality possess. Even so, the percentages involved would seem to suggest this isn't just a fanciful phenomenon.

Natch, I'm wondering why all these bloody book-lovers aren't bloody buying enough of my bloody books . . .