A survey conducted revealed that Singaporeans read magazines and newspapers, rather than fiction. This is very true because whenever I step into a bookshop, the magazine section is always crowded and the fiction section is just visited by a few customers. To be fair, the non-fiction section has more people than the fiction section, which brings me to the next revelation.
Horror of horrors, they read only for information and enrichment, rather than pleasure. As a fanatic bookworm, I am absolutely aghast at this. The gems that are available in the fiction section are blatantly neglected. It is a tragedy that people have closed their eyes and minds to them. This is also true for the children's section on fiction.
I blame the advent of technology as the sole reason for this demise. It is bad enough that television dramas, movies and dvds already exist and have snatched the limelight. Despite the fact that some shows are screen adaptations of novels, fiction books can pull me into a different world altogether, something which technology can't do as well. With the Internet which gives access to online games and videos, this demise may become permanent.
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