“If an individual does not read, it is his/her personal problem. If the whole country does not read, it is the national tragedy” (Ioseph Brodsky). These words are especially relevant for the modern soci-ocultural situation. The problems of literacy, education, culture, and reading are of utmost importance because they are closely related to the nation’s future viability and wellbeing. According to E.I. Morozova, “a neglect of reading today has reached its critical limit, and if no measures are taken, the core of national culture will be destroyed” (1). In the context of modern sociocultural changes nature, content, and functions of reading are trans-forming. For instance, an interest to genres represented in a visual format such as detectives, thrillers, horror stories, comics, has increased due to the influence of the TV and video clips. Reading tends to become just pragmatic and functional, and the perception of reading – pixelated and superficial.