Read any good books recently?

The BBC reports on research conducted by Manchester University that shows that, contrary to popular expectation, Brits spent more time reading in recent times than they did in the 1970s. that shows that people in the UK are reading more than they did a quarter of a century ago. These findings fly in the face of many people's assumptions about modern Britain as "a nation of dumbed-down MP3-toting philistines who prefer computer games to the mind-expanding delights of a good book".

Meanwhile, Christian Research comment on the WorldBookDay poll which found that The Bible is the nation’s sixth most indispensable book. Over 2,000 people voted, nominating 10,000 different titles between them. The overall winner was Pride and Prejudice getting 20% of the votes, followed by Lord of the Rings with 17%. You can read the full results here.

Watch out for a forthcoming blog series on summer reading.