Here’s a cause surely we can all get behind: Christopher Eccleston has shared his support for local public libraries, a vital resource that are underfunded and often overlooked.
Eccleston says that libraries gave him a way of escaping the hustle and bustle of everyday life:
“When I was growing up in Salford, the local library provided a vibrant lifeline to the wider world. Libraries feed people’s interests and passions and provide access leading to connections being forged.”
And look, we know this isn’t Doctor Who related, per se, but Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor in 2005 and heck, we don’t talk about libraries and the importance of books enough. So permit us this small deviation. If it is a deviation at all, that is: there’s a load of Doctor Who literature on offer (including audiobooks), much of which you can get from your local library. And all you need to take advantage of that is a simple library card!
Christopher further says:
“As an actor, my career has been built on words and the celebration of the richness of language. I’m always reading and encourage my children away from screen time to explore literature which they love to do. My parents taught me the value of reading and it is important for me to pass this along.”
This was part of Eccleston enthusing about the Summer Reading Challenge, run by The Reading Agency, which encourages youngsters to read more through their summer holidays. Yes, we missed this before, but reading isn’t a seasonal activity: it’s always a great time to pick up a book!
So while we have this chance, please tell us in the comments section below a few of your favourite books. I love Agatha Christie, so I recommend pretty much anything by the Queen of Crime. Her play, Witness for the Prosecution, is sublime actually, and the script is available as a book — there’s a great wealth of scripts offer actually. I also adore Fahrenheit 451 by the superb Ray Bradbury and Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood. If you’re into comics, too, you should check out all of J. Michael Straczysnki’s Amazing Spier-Man beginning with Coming Home, my favourite run for the Marvel character.
We should also mention Eccleston’s eye-opening and emotional autobiography, I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me.
Oh, there are so many fantastic novels, scriptbooks, graphic novels, and non-fiction titles out there. Can’t wait to read your suggestions.
