How do you feel when you don't read for a long time?

[krishna_lit]

We all read very often and it's a part of our lives... but I'm sure there were times for all of us when we weren't able to read for a long while.. how did you feel when you were in such times, staying out of the world we love...?

[Charles Darnay]

I have never been in that situation. Granted there are times when I haven't had the opportunity to read the books I choose, particularly when I was in school, overwhelmed by other readings - but reading in some form has always been a part of life.

[JBI]

When you walk down the street you see writing everywhere, be it billboards, traffic signs menus, receipts, price tags, the Internet, or whatever. It makes me glad actually that I first came to china knowing Chinese to a level where I was nOt functionally illiterate. I encountered a few fully illiterate people while working in the super market, and just the thought of living 30 years without being able to read anything, including expiry dates on milk, is frightening.

It's scary that that was the norm 150 years ago, and still is the norm in some places. I guess in that respect I can greatly admire the Jewish faith for putting a strong emphasis on literacy. Even in medieval and the worst times the religion was linked by at least a sense of literary shared space that was the Torah and the Talmud.