There are certain events in social life that are related to the existence of books, the so-called book fairs, for example, that attract the attention of the public who, due to the presence of interesting national and international writers, due to new editorials or offers and discounts from bookstores, he attends them. It is not bad to sell and buy books; On the contrary, books are a good – material and spiritual – that, as Juana Neira already suggested in 2020, should be considered a basic product: “Books and reading should be within the basic basket of all families.”
The Quito Book Fair of 2024
But how do we live the real reality of books and reading in Ecuador? Are the most recent controversial novels, the local poet’s collection of poems, or the reissue of a classic conversation starters in homes? Do friends who get together to see each other and discuss their lives, by chance, ever comment on a book so that they become immersed in a conversation about what they have read? Haven’t the great authors told us that reading is a passion that changes points of view, that can show us unknown sides of what it is to live and that it is a fabulous experience of unique learning?
Be serious, Pabel
In the country we have data on the sale of books at fairs, bookstores know which are the best-selling texts and publish those lists, university libraries know how many students – school and university students – request texts during the visits they make… but as country – as a State and citizens – we do not know if books have a significant weight in families. The question I ask, in the context of inequality, injustice and the lacerating inequalities in which Ecuador lives, may seem trivial but it is not unnecessary: are there books – I am not saying small libraries – in the homes of Ecuadorians?
Wouldn’t we be a better society if we encouraged a sustained practice of reading everywhere? Maybe yes and maybe not, but it would be worth it to make reading and the circulation of books part of what we consider to be human. But precisely because as a country we cannot even answer the basics, the question is not irrelevant. When I write this I am aware of this: in the North American prisons that we see in the movies, the guy with the cart who carries the books to the cells almost always appears; In Ecuadorian prisons the prison system cannot even feed the inmates…
Ecuador, a country without public libraries or open private libraries; Ecuador, a country without libraries in
its school system; Ecuador, a country where the price of books is very expensive compared to average incomes; Ecuador, a country where you don’t see people reading. Not only for this, but also for this: our democracy is weak, our voters, although almost all of them know how to read and write, seem to have no reasoned criteria or principles when approaching the polls. What Albert Einstein said makes no sense here: “The only thing you really need to know is the address of the library.” (EITHER)
