SIR, —4 am convinced, from personal experience, that the people
interviewed by Mr. Allsop about their reading habits (or lack of them 1) were indeed sadly typical, in spite of the references one sees from time to time about the large numbers of books taken from public libraries. This apparent discrepancy between public report and private observation has often puzzled me.
Surely many of those who say, 'Oh, I've no time for reading,' really mean that they do not value read- ing sufficiently highly to be prepared to huy time for it, although they may spend fairly large sums of money on various forms of entertainment or non- essential commodities.
One fact which has often struck me is the feeling of guilt which seems frequently to surround this question. On the one hand, some people say, in all
honesty, that they would have a bad conscience if they spent time reading; on the other hand, there are those who probably feel guilty about not reading and who try to evade the issue by saying they have no time for it. Other leisure activities do not seem to be so charged with emotional and moral significance.— Yours faithfully,
PAMELA PARSONS The White House, Holmer Green, High Wycombe, Bucks
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