I’ve found several of my reading choices have followed the same trend: I see a movie trailer and decide to pick up the book it’s based on. During the past year, I’ve dived into “Never Let Me Go,” “Water for Elephants” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” without any knowledge of their plots. All were popular enough for studio funding and A-list stars — all very safe selections.

Playing it safe, of course, isn’t the best way to expand one’s worldview. Movies are marketed for maximum audience appeal, so it makes sense their literary origins must be fairly inoffensive. Popular websites get a little more subversive with their “Top 100” lists, but these 20th century rebels have had most of the acid drained out by the time our generation picks them up.

That’s why I was surprised to feel the sting of contemporaneity in the press release for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” The novel follows a young boy in the wake of his father’s death during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but the description on the university’s website is careful to sidestep that issue and point out its more universal themes. One can understand why.

Almost 10 years after that tragic day, film and literary depictions of the Sept. 11 tragedy and the war that followed seem to be met with cries of, “Too soon!” or worse, no discussion at all.

For nearly a decade, Americans have shunned showings of movies such as “United 93” and Best Picture winner “The Hurt Locker.” Critics will tell you it’s not that they’re bad movies, but that the problem is people just don’t want to hear about this issue.

Perhaps books fare a little better than their film counterparts because the medium is less noisy and invasive, or perhaps because of the audience. I saw in a blurb on Time magazine’s website that Amazon.com recently posted the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America (measured by their book purchases and Kindle downloads, of course).

A common factor among them is the presence of a major university. At No. 1, Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard University, and at No. 4, Ann Arbor, Mich. — but we won’t go into that.

As for the presence of these college towns on the list, it might be that the younger generation, eager for knowledge and soul-searching, simply has a greater appetite for literature. Of course, maybe it just comes down to the volume of assigned reading — I buy all my textbooks from Amazon.com.

Another list I looked at was the One Book, One Community archive, which shows a marked transition from old classics, such as “Fahrenheit 451” and “Frankenstein,” to the more current “Zeitoun” and this year’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” The title of the novel itself captures exactly what so many people tend to avoid. Discussions of terrorism and tragedy are often hard on the ears and hit too close to home.

But that’s the point of all this. Anyone can watch a movie trailer and decide to curl up for some easy reading so all that’s left to discuss are plans to see the film when it comes out. The One Book, One Community program forces us — perhaps unlike our friends in Ann Arbor — to get up off the armchair and do something with what we’ve read.

Personally, I’m going to borrow Foer’s book from a friend in James Madison College after he’s finished with it. We’ll have an intense conversation about it I’m sure — he’s an opinionated guy. That’s why I like him. That’s why I like reading.

And after the dust settles, you’ll find me in the theater watching Hanks and Bullock when the movie comes out.

Craig Pearson is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at pears153@msu.edu