Along came Benedict… and inspired my reading

A lot. I used to read a lot. As soon as I had learned to read fluently, my mum got me a library card and from that moment on, I became a regular visitor to the local library. I always lugged around piles of books and would spend my afternoons or any time available really reading, drifting off into different times and ages, exotic (at the time) countries, fictional realms. My reading was a wild mix back then, from childrens’ books to crime stories to love stories to classic antiquity tales.

I moved from primary school to grammar school and that’s when things started to get a bit weird. Oh yes, we did read at school, of course we did. Only, I mostly did not like what we were made to read!

I’m living in Germany, thus, I attended German schools, and I tend to think there’s quite a difference between, say, Germany and the UK as far as cultural education goes. I’m under the impression that all things cultural are playing a more important role in the British society than they are here. There’s no fixed canon of books that must be included in the syllabus here, but of course there are Continue reading →