We stand with J.K. Rowling
Books.
Books do many things. They educate and irritate, nourish and challenge, distract and focus, inspire and enrage. Books are so important that they bring out both the best and the worst of human nature. No-one knows this better than J.K. Rowling.
This is a woman who understands both pleasure and pain. She brought us children’s books that morph effortlessly from delight to darkness; she brought us crime novels that grip in the midst of gore. She knows that the world is hard, and also that it is full of joy.
When the dementors come, and the Death Eaters snarl, there are a few things we do.
pleasure: A Barmy Bookish Manifesto
we organise
We set up advocacy groups and protests and parents’ networks and crowdfunds. We do Mumsnet and Twitter and Whatsapp. We seek out each other. We, my friends, do Dumbledore’s Army.
We think fast and slow
We set up think-tanks and book clubs and seminars and Zoom calls. We read Helen Joyce. We have difficult, painful, and high-stakes conversations. Like spells, like hexes, we fire ideas at each other and out into the world, and we see what sticks.
we seek out pleasure
We get drunk as skunks with women we love and admire. We have lunch, we drink tea, we eat teacakes, we wear fabulous t-shirts and we binge-watch Gentleman Jack. And here at JKR’s Barmy Books, WE READ FOR PLEASURE.