David Blackburn

My holiday from reading books is to read them as Caxton intended

On hearing that Easy Jet had changed its hand luggage allowance, two questions struck me. First, was the airline in league with the luggage makers’ guild? Second, which paperbacks would replace the hardbacks I was going to take with me to the beach?

Such considerations may strike you as ‘old world’, a bit last century. ‘Why not take your Kindle?’ you rightly ask. One answer is that I spend every waking hour reading words on a computer. Fire up the screen and get comfortable for a long read; well, I’m supposed to be doing just that rather than write this piece, which is little more than an excuse to fantasize about the holiday I’m about to take.

I was planning to read Glorious Misadventures by Owen Matthews, Silence: A Christian History by Diarmaid MacCulloch and as much disposable trash as I might grab at the airport. Yet my parsimonious, Easy Jet-flying, ways threatened this vision of anachronistic bliss.

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