The Reading Agency (Great Britain)

A pleasant little anthology of essays and stories celebrating the magic of public libraries, by everyone who was anybody in British literature in 2012, from Alan Bennett to Zadie Smith, published in aid of the literacy charity, The Reading Agency. Most of the contributors were doing more or less what we would expect from them, in some cases with pieces that have been anthologised quite widely elsewhere, but it’s all in a good cause and a reminder of how valuable libraries are and how essential it is to keep them going even in times of austerity. Although I can’t imagine that anyone who didn’t already understand that would end up reading this book…… (altro)

This was an inadvertent BB from mstrust who initially used the wrong touchstone. It caught my eye because I spotted Alan Bennett’s name in the drop down description. However, there were many favourite authors in this anthology created in support of libraries: Ann Cleeves, Caitlin Moran, Val McDermid, Zadie Smith, and more. The story from Kate Mosse was a hair-raising ghost story. And Alan Bennett’s essay was so typically personal that I could hear his voice. Both interesting and inspirational, this was a very enjoyable read, and just imagine, without mstrust’s mistaken touchstone, I may never have found it.… (altro)