A great novel or play touches or enrages or saddens us. It makes us look at ourselves or other people differently. Despite the many emotions we feel while reading books or watching plays, they follow one of only six emotional arcs, according to a study.

Summer is here, stretching out as far as the eye could see, but it’s unlike any other because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There won’t be any trips (at least not to foreign destinations). Social distancing is a must. In these challenging times, books offer a safe way to celebrate summer.

COVID-19’s far-reaching impact on our lives extends to our reading habits. The pandemic has caused bankruptcies, job losses, and varying degrees of lockdown in most states, and it’s also changing our reading preferences and behavior.

A recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) shows that 55 percent of Americans read for pleasure—if you add their use of e-books and audio books to print books—contradicting a misperception of a decline in book reading in the U.S.

The latest VIDA Count reveals a slow movement toward gender parity in literary magazines, with only two of the 15 major publications evaluated showing 50 percent or more women writers.

The 2016 VIDA Count shows some gains toward gender equity in the mainstream publishing industry. The literary magazine Granta published more women than men in six years, while the New York Times Book review had equal percentage of female and male reviewers. The report noted that the London Review of Books has the worst gender disparity.

Finishing a book depends a great deal on a reader’s age, according to a study by Jellybooks. In most cases, completion rates were higher for readers under 35 and those older than 45. Readers between those two groups had the lowest completion rate.

Women and adults belonging to the 65-74 age bracket are the most active readers of literature in America, according to a new survey by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

More people are using smartphones and tablets to read books, but a majority of readers prefer traditional print books over digital formats, according to a recent study by Pew Research Center.

The keys to healthy living and longevity may soon include read more books, judging by the results of a recent study. A research published in Social Science & Medicine shows a correlation between reading books and living longer. It compared people who did not read and those who read for up to three-and-a-half hours a week.