We want books that let us switch off

In the left-liberal weekly Népszabadság poet and essayist Ákos Szilágyi reflects on reading habits nowadays: "There are two types of books: those that must be read and those that allow themselves to be read. … We want books that allow themselves to be read, meaning books that pretty much don't have to be read. They make no mental demands on us - whether intellectual, spiritual or imaginative. … Instead they provide us with minutes free of worry, sensual stimuli and paradisiacal pleasures. … They flit past our consciousness without leaving a trace. They soothe the eye and switch off the intellect. … They have the effect of a refreshing dream: in the next moment we no longer know what we read, and this is the best thing about these books. What they were about is all forgotten. No wonder, we're all weighed down with worries and exhausted. Nothing beyond what is stuffed into our heads on a daily basis fits there any more."

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