Jag blev glad
vuxnas läsning av skönlitteratur I became happier and wiser: young adults reading of fiction [123[upps-01.gif This Masters thesis explores young adults 18-26 years old, reading of fiction: their reading preferences, the meaning of reading and their access to literature. A study was made by way of a questionnaire, including 56 young adults, and seven qualitative interviews with two groups: one at a folk highschool and the other at a public library. The theories we have used to analyse the results are: theories of gender and youth, theories of literary genres, reader-response criticism, literature sociology and the theories of cultural sociology by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. In the analysis the results are compared to other studies of reading habits. Results from this study show that the young adults read fiction from several genres among popular- and quality literature. Women read more than men and they read fiction by male and female authors. Men are in favour of male authors. Women read more genres than men do and many women prefer reading realistic stories about peoples tragic fortunes. Most of the respondents read fiction for entertainment, for emotional and/or existential causes and for general knowledge. We observe that there are both differences and similarities between the two groups. The majority of the respondents obtain books at the school- and/or public library but many of them borrow books from friends or buy fiction in bookstores.