I Have Never Experienced A Sorrow That

Once A Book Falls Into Our Possession, It Is Ours, The Same Way Children Lay Their Claim: 'that's My Book.' As If It Were Organically Part Of Them. That Must Be Why We Have So Much Trouble Returning Borrowed Books. It's Not Exactly Theft (of Course Not, We're Not Thieves, What Are You Implying?); It's Simply A Slippage In Ownership Or, Better Still, A Transfer Of Substance. That Which Belonged To Someone Else Becomes Mine When I Look At It. And If I Like What I Read, Naturally I'll Have Difficulty Giving It Back.

But Reading Is Different, Reading Is Something You Do. With Tv, And Cinema For That Matter, Everything's Handed To You On A Plate, Nothing Has To Be Worked At, They Just Spoon-feed You. The Picture, The Sound, The Scenery, The Atmospheric Music In Case You Haven't Understood What The Director's On About... The Creaking Door That Tells You To Be Stiff. You Have To Imagine It All When You're Reading.

All It Takes Is One Teacher - Just One - To Save Us From Ourselves And Make Us Forget All The Others.

Each Country Thinks Its School Is In A Specific Crisis, Without Ever Linking The School's Crisis To That Of The Society Around It.

We Keep Quiet About What We Read. Our Enjoyment Of A Book Remains A Jealously Guarded Secret. Perhaps Because There`s No Need To Talk, Or Because It Takes Time To Distill What We've Read Before We Can Say Anything. Silence Is Our Guarantee Of Intimacy. We Might Have Finished Reading But We`re Still Living The Book.