Who would have predicted, a few years ago, that cooking shows would be found so gripping by many?! That cooking competitions would be regarded as “Reality” TV?!
I was recently in the capital, Wellington. There’s a shortage of bookshops in post-quake Christchurch so I naturally walked in to one of the largest bookshops in the centre. Two huge floors of well-stocked shelves. Great!
Difficult to avoid were the rows of shelves of cooking books. I forgot to do a comparison – but I’m guessing they are giving sporting books a run for their money. Sport, previously, was the national religion. Is it still?…
Speaking of religion, I checked both floors twice. Where is the religion section? I finally had to go and ask at the information desk: “Religion? Certainly. Upstairs by the window.” Again I searched. Actually, yes, there were some ummmm… “religious” books I finally found under the category labelled “Learning and Discovery” by “Self Help” and “Health”.
The books were all on the paranormal, angels, astrology, spiritualism, the Secret, the Dalai Lama,… I finally found one, count that one, book by a Christian (not a Christian book), much later I found another one. Oh yes, downstairs the Bible was in the top 100 books (way down the list).
For whom is this reason to pause and reflect? For the bookshop, or for us? I think… for us.
