Books and Bogs

It goes without saying that your first action on visiting your loo will be to gaze lovingly at your Toilet Twinning certificate and think about the people who are using their latrine in a faraway place.

But for many of us, the few minutes we spend behind the closed door of the smallest room might be the only chances we get to pause in a busy day. Indeed there’s a poem (or prayer, depending on your viewpoint) called ‘Slow me down Lord’ which speaks of the importance of these little rests in our routines:

Teach me the art of taking MINUTE vacations,

Of slowing down to look at a flower,

to chat with a friend,

to pat a dog,

to read a few lines of a good book. 

So maybe your only chance to read a good book happens on your ‘minute vacation’ in your toilet. But what to read? Well, the Times Educational Supplement has recently published a ‘Teachers’ Top 100 Books’ list - a goldmine for readers gleaned from the top 10 favourites of 500 teachers.

How many have you read? How many do you want to read? Do you even agree with their choices? The Times Ed seems to be expecting dissent, because they commented, ‘Very little, beyond politics and religion, divides people quite like a list.’

And remembering all those junior school jokes about book titles like ‘The Highwayman’ by Ann Dover, what could you suggest as great titles to read while enthroned in your private space? Let’s get the obvious ‘Winnie The Pooh’ by A A Milne out on the pedestal mat right away and open up this serious debate!