They were counted

Buying a thick Hungarian classic was a bit of a risk but it was Oxfam so I figured my suffering might help someone. As it is I'm really enjoying the 600 odd pages of Miklos Banffy's first volume of his trilogy.

Banffy was a politician, aristocrat and, I think, socialite, so where did he find time to sit down with his fountain pen and come up with those many thousands of words? Is it easier now with our wordprocessors or more difficult with so many distractions? Of course Bannfy would have been distracted by the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, all those summer balls, duels and affiairs.

Save our libraries

Where can you get all the reading you need and want? Public libraries. Maybe I'm just being selfish but I couldn't afford to buy all the books I read. And if I'm spending £10 or more even on a paperback, I'm less likely to be adventurous but popping into my local library I'll borrow something like Cyrano de Bergerac's Journey to the moon. It's not likely to become my favourite read but it's an oddity with inspired passages; a fascinating part of the history of science fiction. It enriches my reading and might contribute to my writing but I'd think twice about handing over cash in Waterstones.

Now just because it's convenient for me isn't a hands down argument to save libraries but if you replicate that story among the millions, yes millions of library users in the UK, not to mention what they contribute to children's education, community hubs, computer access supporting the economy through informing small businesses to job searchers and people doing holiday research then it's pretty convincing. And that's a pretty long sentence from someone who claims to be a writer.

It's easy to save the libraries, just go to your local and borrow books and use the facilities. And yes, you can even borrow e-books.