Daft Old Duffer returns. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
I hope the read dating event, which is planned for 15th February at Sandown Library, will be a success, and that some loving relationships are formed. I won’t be attending myself, but I will be curious as to how it goes.
Will the lady engrossed in Fifty Shades Of Grey, for example, be more or less successful in attracting males than the one reading Jane Austen? Will the chap flourishing a cook book by young Jamie draw a bigger crowd than the one absorbed in ‘How To Combat Acne’?
Book reading as a form of public action
Anywhichway, the idea of book reading as a form of public action seems to hold interesting possibilities.
I am reminded of the protest against library closures held last year at the Council Offices in Newport. A whole crowd of silently reading protesters jamming up the foyer certainly seemed to have an effect, with the councillors as a bunch seemingly at a loss on how to respond.
Reading up on asphalt
It’s a concept full of potential, I feel. The objectors to the Asphalt plant or the proposed wind turbine, for example, could attend the public meetings, and instead of joining in the uproar, simply sit there, reading. That surely would create some doubts in certain minds.
And further, if you are unhappy with your local bus service, why not read a book at a bus stop? If you object to the ferry crossing fares, get together with a like minded group and travel across, reading silently all the way? That’ll show them.
Peace and love (and books)
Whatever the result of this form of action, it’s at least preferable to hurling furniture through shop windows, or torching buses.
Just imagine the difference it would make at a football match if the crowd, instead of hollering and throwing beer cans at the referee produced a paperback each.
It’s a form of direct action that, if taken up, could transform society, rendering it much more into the type we know here on the Island.
Why, it might even be labelled by a grateful populace, ‘An Isle Of Wighter’.
