Ah, how I would love to swap my cave for a real library. Endless entertainment, limitless possibilities. There is no enjoyment quite like disappearing into a good book, but I find few share this pleasure anymore. In seasons gone by, I often saw whole packs of wolves absorbed in reading, and even saw a monkey hanging by its tail with a thick book in its small hands. The tortoise would labour over a single page for hours, and I often passed homes with more books than greenery outside them.

Now, it is a vanishing passion. Everywhere you go, my fellow jungle dwellers are glued to their phones. These hideous, shiny things that all look the same and make rather too much noise. It’s rare now that I read outside of my den, but that is after several experiences of diminishing joy, caused by the complete lack of consideration my fellow animals afford those leading a bookish life. You can’t sit on a log, or even visit your local reading tree without my fellow jungle citizens and their phones. The screens are always so bright that it’s a good job hunting residents is now prohibited. Goodness, whole species would be wiped out by now! I never felt much call to heed my natural instincts, but I still feel the shift when prey is around – particularly when said prey is blasting ‘Baby Shark’ at full volume in the reading tree.

Is it too much to want the bookish life back? To wander, read, and snack in peace and harmony. Not silence, just consideration for public spaces and those using them. Am I asking too much? Is the bookish life lost for now, only to return when it can be considered ‘retro’?

For all our sakes, I hope not.

Yours,