Driven to Read

As a strong advocate of literacy and bibliotherapy, even I have to admit to having limits as this story from the BBC indicates:

A bus driver has been suspended after a passenger filmed him apparently reading while driving along a dual carriageway in Birmingham.

The passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, filmed the National Express West Midlands driver steering with his elbows while holding a small book.

They said they took the footage after getting on the number 61 bus at Selly Oak at 2005 BST on Monday.

National Express West Midlands said “immediate action” was taken.

The footage has since been posted on video sharing website YouTube.

The story is here.


I wonder if he was reading this book as it has become ubiquitous in the UK?

Obamas Will Preside Over National Book Festival

The First Couple will be honorary chairs of the National Book Festival, to be held in Washington, D.C., at the National Mall on Saturday, September 26th.

Sponsored by the Library of Congress, this will be the event’s ninth year celebrating “the joys of reading and lifelong literacy,” according to an event press release.

“We are delighted that the President and Mrs. Obama are committed to bringing this inspirational event to people of all ages nationwide,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “The National Book Festival has become a true American institution. It is a joyous and very popular celebration of books and reading in the Washington, D.C., area.”

About 70 authors, poets and illustrators representing all branches of literature will be housed in themed pavilions throughout the site. Visitors to the festival will be able to meet authors, get books signed and take part in a large number of reading and library promotional activities. As well, the Library of Congress Pavilion will showcase “cultural treasures” and offer information about library programs.

Held on the National Mall between 7th and 14th streets, the annual event is open to the public and free of charge. It sounds like a terrific day.

Reading Between the Lies

Some people lie about what they have read and, according to Stephen Adams at The Telegraph, it’s more than just a few:

Under the cover of an anonymous questionnaire, two-thirds of people admitted to fibbing about having read a book.

Surprisingly, given its brevity and pace, 1984 heads the top 10 list of books we falsely claim to have read.

The rest of the list is largely predictable, stuffed full of weighty volumes most have seen dramatised on television but not read line by endless line.

Besides War and Peace and Ulysses -- which can both exceed 1,000 pages depending on edition -- other unread works include the Bible, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and A Brief History of Time, by Professor Stephen Hawking.

Many also bluffed about reading classics by the likes of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and the Brontë sisters.

And why did all those people lie? In some cases, it was to make themselves appear hotter:

He concluded it all boiled down to sex.

He said: “Research that we have done suggests that the reason people lied was to make themselves appear more sexually attractive.”

Meanwhile, over at The Guardian we see that celebrities are not exempt from attempting to amp their sex appeal by (ahem) enhancing their intellectual profile.

Pop star Jarvis Cocker lied about having read Tess of the D'Urbervilles in his Oxford University admissions interivew. (It didn’t help.) Filmmaker Stephen Frears says he doesn’t think he “read Ulysses to the end, but I can’t remember if I actually lied about that one.” The poet Benjamin Zephaniah denies lying about what he’s read. “If I’m asked about a book I don’t just want to say yes or no, I want to discuss it so to me there’s no point in lying.”

Book Celebrations Should Go On Forever

Wow: do I ever feel like a dope. Library Lovers Month is nearly over and it just this minute sunk in that the future is now.

On the one hand, though, I have a good excuse: I love libraries all the time. On the other, well... even though there’s only a few days left in February, you still have time to party. Here are a few links to help out with that.

And on a related and ever so important note, Canada’s 25th national Freedom to Read Week runs from February 22nd until the 29th. (I know: I’m a little slow on the uptick on that one, as well.) From the Freedom to Read Web site:

Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, Freedom to Read Poster 2009 books and magazines are banned at the border. Books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day. Free speech on the Internet is under attack. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read.

Some really great support material (like the nifty poster at left and much more) can be found on the Web site.

Because it’s never too late to celebrate books, literary freedom and libraries. We need to do it all year ‘round.

Reading on the Rise says Patchett

Bestselling novelist Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, Run) shares her talented pen with the Wall Street Journal in an essay that that helps celebrate something we’ve been hearing whispers about: reading fiction for fun is definitely on the rise. Says Patchett:

There will be those who attribute the rise in reading to our current decline of cash, and if that is actually the case I would at least be able to think I forfeited my retirement account to a worthy cause. It's true, as a source of entertainment reading ranks somewhere between cheap and free, depending on where you get your books. A movie can give you two hours of entertainment, but a book can go on for days or even weeks. My friend Lucy loved to point out that she started reading “War and Peace” on the first day of the first Gulf War and was still reading when the war was over.

But the financial crunch isn’t all of it. As Patchett points out, the biggest reading bump has been seen in the 18-24-year old markets:

But doesn't it make sense? This is the first crop of newly minted adults who were raised up on Harry Potter novels. They came of age attending midnight release parties at their local bookstores and then faking mysterious illnesses the next day for the absolute necessity of staying in bed to read. Some of these children were lucky enough to have their Potter novels banned by witch-hunting school boards and micro-managing ministers. Is there any greater joy than a book you’re not allowed to read, a book you could go to hell for reading? When I was a child I had to make due with a purloined copy of “Valley of the Dolls” which I thought was forbidden because it was dirty and now know was forbidden because it was just so badly written.

More joy: reading Patchett any ol’ way we can get her. There’s a lot more to this essay, and it’s here. Meanwhile, that National Endowment for the Arts report everyone keeps quoting is right here.

International Literacy Day

Today, September 8th, is International Literacy Day, a date that’s being marked in different ways by different groups but -- in all cases -- it is a celebration as well as a lament.

For some, it is an acknowledgement of how far we’ve come on the road to literacy, while realizing how far there still is to go. From the United Nations’ site:

Literacy is a cause for celebration since there are now close to four billion literate people in the world. However, literacy for all -- children, youth and adults -- is still an unaccomplished goal and an ever moving target. A combination of ambitious goals, insufficient and parallel efforts, inadequate resources and strategies, and continued underestimation of the magnitude and complexity of the task accounts for this unmet goal. Lessons learnt over recent decades show that meeting the goal of universal literacy calls not only for more effective efforts but also for renewed political will and for doing things differently at all levels - locally, nationally and internationally.

Or, as the International Reading Association points out:

International Literacy Day, observed annually on September 8, focuses attention on worldwide literacy needs. More than 780 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write, and between 94 and 115 million children lack access to education.

For others it is a celebration of books and reading and a reminder to keep both close to our hearts and in our lives.

In Indianapolis, for example, the powers that would read have used the day as a touchstone for a local grassroots campaign to help raise reading awareness. The Take Five to Read campaign urges reading right now:

Take Five To Read: wherever you are, whatever you are doing, stop and read a book (or a magazine, or a letter, or a work related report, or a newspaper …) for five minutes at noon on Monday, September 8 th to celebrate “International Literacy Day.”

• Take Five To Read to a child.
• Take Five To Read to yourself.
• Take Five To Read to celebrate that you are NOT one of the “one in five adults in Indianapolis who can’t read.”
• And when people ask why you’re reading, tell them to go visit “100percentliterate.org” to help “Make Indianapolis 100% Literate!”

More about the program here.