Read any good books lately? (Yes, Harry Potter counts. No, the film adaptations do not.) If you haven't, you're not alone—not by a long stretch. An AP-Ipsos poll released yesterday found that 27 percent of Americans hadn't read a single book in the last year. And of the self-professed readers, the median number of volumes read was 6.5. The most frequently cited reading material was the Bible (and other religious works), followed by popular fiction/history/biography/mystery, and romance novels.

Other findings:

• People from the West and Midwest are more likely to have read at least one book in the past year.
• Southerners who read tend to read more books than people from other regions.
• Whites read more than blacks and Hispanics.
• Those who never attend religious services read nearly twice as many books as those who attend frequently.
• Democrats and liberals typically read slightly more books than Republicans and conservatives.

  [via the Chicago Tribune]

U.S. Reading Habits [CNN]
Book Study Poll Results (pdf) [AP/Ipsos]

Flickr photo by jakebouma