I've just discovered the brilliant Guardian books blog (how is it I've missed this up till now?), and enjoyed this post by Alan Bisset on our vanished reading time – stolen by the seductions of the internet, Hollywood, and dvd box sets. Almost as interesting as his article was the discussion that followed in the comments section. I actually went through a phase myself where I was seriously worried that I had lost my ability to concentrate in any kind of sustained way on a book (and if I didn't like reading any more then was I still me?). But then I read a few good ones and realised it's like riding a bike – if the book is good enough then it will carry me away in just the same fashion as they used to before I spent most of my days looking at a mac screen. Phew.
