'If one may judge from the young men and women in their twenties who call here - one must accept that exceptionally few of them have any interest in serious or solid reading; indeed, many seem to read hardly anything at all. Last night, for example, M- admitted that she had never read a book through; and her boyfriend claimed that once as a test of will-power he had forced himself to read through three books by Conrad. It would certainly appear that the interwar years had produced a generation restless, and recreated by light amusements.'