The opportunity that blogs continue to offer for long-form engagement with literature should not be denigrated, but celebrated. John Self counters Sir Peter Stothard’s claim that book bloggers are harming literature.

Hard Times' Gradgrind perfectly suits the unimaginative utilitarian, with his daily grind of graduated educational tasks. Even the structure of the word is repetitive. The reader may think of Gradgrind as grinding the faces of the poor. A consideration of the effect of character’s names in fiction.

This may be the hardest thing a writer has to learn.