I enjoyed The Art of Fielding - even though some of the plot was preposterous.

Let's look for a minute what is involved in reading a book:

- The active engaged world of longing has to back off in order for a human to read a book.

- You need a motivation besides the vague feeling that reading is good for you.

- You generally have to be solitary. Everything else is distracting. There might be something more immediately satisfying or fun or important to do.

- You have to really want to read this book. The things going on in the book have to be more interesting than the things going on elsewhere.

No wonder no one is reading. My students don't read. I was once teaching in a maximum security prison school for kids 11-16 (between gigs teaching in a community college). Regarding reading, the only difference between the college kids and the prison kids was that the college kids could probably read if they had to.

It helps to find really fabulous fiction that you can't wait to get back to. If you're not hooked by (pick arbitrary # of pages), then move on. As for The Art of Fielding, I found the beginning confusing but by the end of the third chapter, I was hooked, so I'm glad I stuck with it.

My only suggestion is this: (and most of hubski disagrees with me): Read with a highlighter. Highlight really great lines. Write the odd note in the margins. This provides a bit of the physical engagement, plus you can find and quote the lines to people.

If there are no great lines within the first 50 pages then something is wrong.