Two
different days for the same event? Why not? To my mind, every day is a ‘book
day’. Avid readers and book lovers probably can’t get by most days without
reading.
Worlds of adventure and excitement
I
can’t remember when I read my first book unaided, but it was a long while back
in the mists of time. There were not that many books in our house – a single
small bookshelf, containing Arthur Mee’s Children’s
Encyclopedia, a few adult hardbacks and home-help tomes, and an enormous
dictionary with thumb indents for each letter of the alphabet. With my
pocket-money I started collecting the children’s hardback Regent Classics that could
be bought in Woolworth’s: Knights of the
Round Table, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Robinson Crusoe, The Coral Island, Lorna
Doone, Kidnapped, Black Beauty, Last of the Mohicans, Quentin Durward,
among others; all with bright dust jackets. At about the same time I discovered
the local library, and Swallows and
Amazons, Doctor Dolittle etc. This was before the paperback explosion of
the 1960s, when books became ‘affordable’.
Even discounting A Brief History of Time, a number of books occupy shelf space but never get read. That’s according to a recent survey, commissioned by a storage firm of all things. In fact, their sample of 2,000 people suggest that one in five books on our shelves go unread. I’m sure the statistic is higher in my case – I’ve got so many unread books because I don’t have the time to read as many as I’d like, but I bought them with every intention of reading! The same applies to my backlog of e-books.
The
average home contains 158 hardbacks and paperbacks. (I’ve got more than that in
just one genre!)
In
Patrick Tilley’s Mission (reviewed
here) the main character, an alien, simply has to touch a book and he has read
it. I assume he gleans pleasure from the experience. Anyway, that would
certainly take care of my backlog!
What
are the reasons for hanging on to books? Research suggests many people hoard books
(some eight billion!) of which one in five is unread. They keep books because
there’s an emotional attachment; others hate throwing away anything. And we all
know that charity shops often plead ‘full’ where books are concerned. Sixteen
percent of respondents admitted they keep certain titles on their shelves so
that they can appear intelligent! Those most likely to impress guests include To Kill A Mockingbird, Moby Dick and the
Bible. On the reverse coin, Katie
Price’s autobiography, 50 Shades of Grey
and anything by James Patterson were considered liable to adversely affect
their reputation in the eyes of guests.
The
snobbish slight to James Patterson seems a little unfair. He has a ready market
of readers who like his books, so why not cater for them? And he does put his
money where his mouth is: over the last few years he has supported reading
initiatives – not to sell his books but to encourage reading. He has donated
£50,000 to the new World Book Day Award. Winning schools will receive thousands
of pounds worth of books for their libraries.
As Patterson says, ‘Reading is one of the building blocks of life and can take you to another world.’
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