The fault I find in our journalism is it forces us to engage with some fresh triviality every day whereas only three or four books give us anything that is of any importance.

Charles Swann, in Swann’s Way, In Search of Lost Time Vol.1

So says Charles Swann says when his neighbours chastise him for not keeping up with the news. He notes that they follow the headlines morning, noon and night.

True today as it was then. Perhaps even more so when the modern medium generates more news – not all of it true – than we could ever keep up with.

This is a call to go back to books, to art, to find a more meaning, reflection and insight than the news can provide.

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