I was on a train yesterday evening travelling from Oxford. It was quite late, in fact it was the last train back to my village around midnight. Like most others on the train, I was listening to my Spotify playlist of 2023 while scrolling through my phone looking at nothing in particular. I noticed a man board the train and stand by the door not far away from where I was sitting, he put down his bag, removed his hat and gloves and took out a book. The book was an leather bound, old novel published well over 50 years ago or so; it looked magical. Suddenly, I began to question what I was doing. Why was I scrolling through the black box that was in my palm? What purpose was it serving? Why didn't I have a book to read? As I watched the man read, I began to wonder what kind of world he was reading about, what wonderful characters the author had brought to life, what kind of magical escape that man went on while rocking back and forth to the steady movement of the train.

See, that's the power of books, they can transport you to other worlds, away from the humdrum of modern life. With the turn of a page you could be walking through the door of Hogwarts, take a stroll through Middle-Earth with Frodo and Samwise, head through the back of the wardrobe to meet Aslan the Lion, fly over Neverland with Peter and Tink or sail away in and out of weeks with Max to party with the Wild Things.

When my daughter was born nearly 6 years ago, I made a promise to myself that I would read to her every day. I have kept that promise. She loves being read to, she loves reading and she loves stories; we have a special story telling chair at home that we sit in together just before tea time to enjoy a story. She is just beginning to read for herself and is so proud that she can sound out words and read me the story. Last week we started reading J.M. Barrie's classic Peter Pan together, just one chapter at a time; that time I have with my daughter reading together is far more precious than any time scrolling through the nonsense that appears on my social media pages. We should all make more time for reading together.

As Maya Angelou says,

'When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.'

Perhaps we all need to learn something from the man on the train, ditch the devices and take out a book instead.