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Becoming a writer exposed my dirty secret: I’d stopped reading. Now I’m back at it | Rhik Samadder

Once upon a time, I devoured books. Then all I read was Facebook and texts. Now, thanks to Covid-19, I’ve fallen in love all over again

The man behind the camera gave me an odd look. “The spider from Charlotte’s Web?” I had travelled to the television set in Scotland by train, which had broken down at Preston, and been forced to improvise the rest of the journey on smaller trains and taxis, while ill, arriving on set with 15 minutes to spare before my interview started. Someone had put a plate of food in front of me, and someone else had taken me away from it, to record a “quick bit of extra content for socials”. That’s why my brain wasn’t working when I was asked who my favourite fictional character was. The spider from Charlotte’s Web. A book I hadn’t read in 25 years.

“What’s her name?” I added, a coup de grâce that established me as not just odd, but actively stupid.

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