People Read Books! 80 Percent of Californians Have Read One in the Last Month

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This just in from the "humanity isn't as screwed as we think" department: people read books. A new USC Dornsife College/Los Angeles Times Poll says 80 percent of Californians surveyed have read at least one book in the last month, and 40 percent have read three.

Here at LA Weekly we took our own mini survey around the office to find out what book our staff writers, editors and other contributors read for fun in the last month.

Survey says:

Gendy Alimurung: Waiting by Ha Jin

Drex Heikes: Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

Tibby Rothman: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Erica Wrightson: Here is New York by E.B. White

Jonathan Gold: Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck

Amy Scattergood: The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by Harrison Salisbury

Shana Nys Dambrot: Cupcake Nation by Susan Adele Wiggins

Rebecca Haithcoat: Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice

Keith Plocek: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Patrick Range McDonald: Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee

Zachary Pincus-Roth: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Lisa Horowitz: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Libby Molyneaux: The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse

Mars Melnicoff: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Gustavo Turner: Drawing is Thinking by Milton Glaser

David Futch: Toward You by Jim Krusoe

Liz Ohanesian: 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa

Jason S. Mandell: The Gift by Lewis Hyde

Beth Barrett: The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran

Also discovered in the survey: Thirty-one percent of Californians spend at least seven hours a week reading books for pleasure and two thirds say they like reading "a lot." Twenty-six percent get the majority of their books from the library, and 18 percent own an e-reader, like a Kindle or iPad. The survey was pegged to the Times' festival of books this weekend (1,502 Californians were surveyed between April 7 and 17).

What book did you read (and what did you think)? Add it in the comments section...