:(

Pensioners burn books for warmth: Hard-up pensioners have resorted to buying books from charity shops and burning them to keep warm.

I realise that these books are 1) cheaper than coal per pound and 2) often books such as encyclopaedias that are not in heavy demand by bibliophiles, but I still mourn when books wind up in the hands of people who do not read or enjoy them. This includes those who line their homes with shelves to look intellectual but never read a one. Books as found objects for art I can tolerate, as the book might otherwise be thrown away, and I suppose this is no different, but there is just something about a burning book that cuts me to the quick. For me, books are almost sacred objects, and burning them is a form of blasphemy. Even weeding collections hurt, although it is necessary--but even then I try to find someone who wants them.

Thanks, Steven.