Reading

Look at a large set of data for long enough and you'll see a story. It could be a dystopia or the early part of a post-apocalyptic horror, but in this case, it's the story of a dysfunctional relationship.  Read more

People in the UK are turning to books to help them through lockdown, according to a new survey by The Reading Agency.

The figures, released on Thursday to mark World Book Night, suggest 31% of people are reading more since lockdown restrictions were imposed in the UK.

I've always sort of wondered what I wasn't getting about "Little Women."

I'm pretty sure I read it in school, though I would be hard-pressed to recall a single scene. I know I saw at least part of the 1994 film - the one with Winona Ryder, Claire Danes and Christian Bale - but I remember walking out of the room midway through and never returning, much to my mother's dismay.  Read more

For a while we were told that books were going to be a thing of the past. A new century had dawned, our lives were being digitised and surely there was no longer any reason to lug the pressed pulp of dead trees around. And yet, over the past decade, it seems clear that the death of the book has been greatly exaggerated.  Read more

A physical book is good for much more than reading. In our house, we have several large art books propping up a movie projector. A thin paperback is wedged under a couch leg in a spot where our old floors are especially uneven. One summer we pressed wildflowers between the pages of a gigantic book about the Louvre, and later used it to flatten out a freshly purchased Radiohead poster.  Read more