The art of reading....

This is a well-flogged subject...with the older folk (I can include myself in this lot, I think) in general lamenting about the lack of the reading habit amongst the young, or the kind of "trash" that these "young" read!!! At the outset, let me range myself decidedly alongside the "young" lot, I'll come to the whys later on...

We've been generally brought up in what I can only term as the Golden era of literature. It used to be so natural to curl up with a nice book, regardless of age, starting from the famous Enid Blyton, then boys and girls choosing their paths, with Hardy boys or Nancy Drew, or Louisa M Alcott....the list is endless...and then coalescing into the ambrosia of literature....all this was part of growing up, and life moved along at a much more leisurely pace than the jetsetting of now. There even used to be extempore debates on Sir Walter Scott, or PG Wodehouse over dinner at home, those days...

Cut to today's youth, with the frenetic pace of life, and the myriad activities that these youngsters are up to. What with shunting them from one activity to another, and helping them keep pace with their education (which is also galloping), one would think that this lot would burn out in no time. But..no, sir, not only do they take all this in their stride, but they also read....Yes, if we were hooked on to stuff like King Arthur, The Crusades, and suchlike during our times, now it is Narnia, Eragon, Harry Potter.....but the reading habit is alive, and in safe hands.

Am putting this up for discussion, so would welcome your views on the subject....