All the books you've never read

Certainly I trace my rise through the social ranks back to the hours I spent as a child reading for pleasure.

Me too.

The reason I read books as a child was that I had a mother who read a lot, recognised the same liking in me and took me to the local library every fortnight with our dog-eared cards to restock.

One or other of us takes Tynan to the library fortnightly - stock up on 7 new titles, and enjoy the storytelling/singing session.

It would be hard to say what my mother would have been like had she not read but evidence of the civilising influence of literature was not written all over her face or the back of her hand. Nor did it lend a rosy hue to her angry tirades and insane dictats or moderate her arbitrary cruelty.

I'm working hard on adjusting my lack of civility, my anger, my control freakery, and my abusive personality.

Probably the significant part of that story is that we went to a *local library; free, reasonably well stocked and open to all.*

Support your local library. The more people who use them, the harder it is for the state to close them down. Out of interest, my son's nursery is in the buliding that was formerly our most local library, but thankfully Islington had a large number of libraries to start with. This doesn't stop the remainder staying at the top of the local authority's easy target/soft touch budgetary hit list :(

Support the NHS. The more people who use it…