… outpour of books into both private and public spaces, reading should not be viewed as an activity connected solely to literature or associated simply with texts intended to stir up the imagination (e.g. fiction or poetry). 2 In fact, … by the age of five or six’ (Bannet 122). 4 . Eve Tabor Bannet, ‘History of Reading: The long Eighteenth Century’ in Literature Compass 10/2 (2013), p. 124 Collective reading Although many people mainly read at home, the activity proved …