Go into any average provincial town and the last thing you will
find is a decent book-shop. More than one great industrial town of
a population of over a hundred thousand has only one such shop,
and that is generally kept going by the sale of school-books.
It is because we cannot afford to buy books. We spend six 【S1】______
hundred million pounds a year on the beer, but we certainly do not 【S2】______
spend six hundred million pence on literature. Many people can 【S3】______
afford to buy motor-cars with anything from seven hundred pounds 【S4】______
would be aghast at the idea of spending a single pound occasionally
on a book. Yet, merely like furniture, books are a cheaper and 【S5】______
better decoration than blue chinas or the eighteenth century chairs. 【S6】______
They are better because they put out the stamp of individuality 【S7】______
upon a house. The desire of the eighteenth century chairs and blue 【S8】______
china may represent not as a genuine personal taste for beautiful 【S9】______
things, but an artificial passion for rare and expensive ones. On
the other hand, a collection of books will give a house character
and meaning. It should tell you about its. 【S10】______
【S1】