It seemed like for a moment you couldn't step outside the door without falling over some book group or another; even the Mexican police have one.. There are TV shows that encourage book groups, that are about book groups and no one yet seems to be arguing against the idea that improving people's literacy is a good thing. Which is fine by us as Londonist would be hard to do as a Jackie style photo story. Although it might be fun to try one day.
The latest group to set up their own book club, according to the BBC is the Go Ahead Bus Garage in Stockwell. Set up as part of the BBC's Reading and Writing campaign, the garage and it's drivers, especially those who don't speak English as their native language, have welcomed the opportunity to improve their literacy skills on such tomes as Matthew Reilly's Hell Island and Rowan Coleman's Woman Walks Into A Bar. Operations manager, Graham Johnson, said:
We have got a small informal lending library here at the garage anyway and a lot of people already read on breaks so we thought this was a good way of taking it one step further.
So good on Go Ahead, and let's keep it coming. Perhaps we can get some conductors back on board, only this time reading excerpts from David McKie's Great British Bus Journeys, Travis Elborough's The Bus We Loved, or Mo Willem's Don't Let The Pidgeon Drive The Bus. Perhaps that one most of all.
