Saramago on children's books:

"If adults read children's books, the world would be a better place, according to the Portuguese author José Saramago, left. Speaking in Rome before a performance of a musical based on a children's story he wrote 30 years ago, Mr. Saramago, 81, said of children's tales: "They are moral fables that teach values which we consider indispensable, like solidarity, respect for others and goodness. But after, we as adults forget these lessons in real life,'' Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Italian news agency Lusa. Mr. Saramago, whose works combine magical realism with political comment, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998."

NYTimes

On the 100th anniversary of the death of Anton Chekhov, Rosamund Bartlett has an interesting article in today's Guardian. The article includes this description of Chekhov by Richard Ford:

"As readers of imaginative literature, we are always seeking clues, warnings," he wrote in the introduction to a recent anthology. "Where in life to search more assiduously; what not to overlook; what's the origin of this sort of human calamity, that sort of joy and pleasure: how can we live nearer to the latter, further off from the former? And to such seekers as we are, Chekhov is a guide, perhaps the guide.""