Reading is a gift to convicts.
23/01/2021
Reading got me through jail
I read everything
Moby Dick and Mark Twain
War and Peace and Hemingway
Irvine Welsh and Tim Winton
Were the pick of the bunch
The thing about reading is
It’s the same no matter where you are
So it’s a blessed escape
For the lonely convict
Friends on the inside
Recommend books
And friends on the outside
Recommend books
And we talk about them
And it’s heaven
It’s true
That time could be spent
Perfecting a physique
Or chasing the dollar
But learning is priceless
And healing words
Help pass the time
Without losing hope
150 books in 6 years
No regrets
No remorse
No shame
Live like you’ll die tomorrow
And learn lie you’ll live forever
And if you find yourself
With a surplus of spare time
Bunker down with a good book
And watch the hours melt away
—
I did a lot of reading whilst I was locked up. In truth there wasn’t much else to do. I read all sorts of stuff and the best was probably the book by a fellow ACT/Queanbeyan poet Omar Musa’s ‘Here Come The Dogs’.
The line about learning like you’ll live forever is something a good friend often says to me.
Reading is a gift to convicts.
High Seas Clothing 
That’s a pretty honest reason, especially when you share about your incarceration. Thanks for sharing!
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You are a little bit inconsistent, Christo, you write wonderfully about your love of reading and good books, but you seemed uninterested in my posts in Literary Series where the latest work, published in the last 25 hours brought close to 6000 readers. and still counting. Why are you not interested? I am a professional writer, a philologist and in my own library, there are 10.000 books. There is an interesting literary post no, 2 about Hemingway, I think, you will like it.
Joanna
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Hey, my apologies for not having checked out your blog sooner, to be honest I’m quite time poor these days, I’m honoured that you’ve taken an interest in my work and I really enjoyed your post about Hemingway. I’ll definitely be reading more of your stuff when I have the time. All the best:)
-Christo
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Christo, I have read a lot of books. One you mentioned that I could not make it through in high school was “Moby Dick.” I have watched the movie and I am wondering if I tried again, whether I might have more luck. I know you enjoy nautical settings, so maybe that is why it appealed to you.
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Hi Cheryl, always a pleasure to hear from you. I loved Moby Dick but there was definitely a lot of whaling info to get through, a strangely profound book if you have the time to spare.
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I’m so happy for you.
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Hi CN,
Reading … five or six hours to absorb forty years of someone’s life. A week to see through the eyes of others who spent years looking. A word written by someone else is a heartbeat timed to yours. I have an idea that there is no reality without language and that language predates reality. Most of my friends think I am nuts, but someday, somewhere in the universe we will find a sort of speaking machine. This seems just as likely, to me anyway, as what others say. The truth of writing is in the reading, not the writing. Good luck and thanks. Duke
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