The Supreme Leader — or someone in his office — has used Ayatollah Khamenei’s Twitter account to give advice and recommendations on books and reading, complaining that not enough people bother to take the time to read these days:
The Supreme Leader asks:
Some ppl don’t think of books as a necessity in life.If ur sitting somewhere &sth happens in the next room,how come u cannot be indifferent?
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 14, 2013
Parents can help solve this state of affairs by encouraging their offspring to read, Khamenei says (he does not offer any suggestions for reading, for example the Harry Potter novels):
We should habituate ourselves&our #children 2read #books;eg 2read books when they want 2go 2bed or hours of Fridays & summer #holidays.
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 14, 2013
But it’s not just children who ought to read more. Ordinary Iranians should open a book on a regular basis too, presumably instead of sitting in front of their televisions watching BBC Persian:
Once they get home, all working ppl should spend at least half an hour on reading;lots of works can be read during these 30min of free times
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 14, 2013
For those of us who complain that they don’t have time to read, the Supreme Leader intimates that this is not an acceptable excuse. Why, the Supreme Leader has managed to find the time to read a great deal of books, even in his very few periods of free time:
I’ve read #books of over 20 volumes in these 15, 20-min of free times; maybe hundreds of books. I know many ppl who’ve done the same.
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 14, 2013
For example, Khamenei reads while he is riding the bus to Tehran:
I read an 8-volume #book on literature on my trips to Tehran while I had to spend long hours on the bus.I read all the 8 volumes on the bus!
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 14, 2013
And what might he be reading?
VictorHugo’s #LesMisérables is the best #novel in history. It’s a miracle in the world of novel writing.I’ve said many times,go read it once
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 9, 2013
#LesMisérables is a book of sociology, a book of history, a book of criticism, a divine book, a book of kindness, #love and #affection
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 9, 2013
The Supreme Leader leaves us with these thoughts: while he values other forms of art such as the cinema — and it is easy to imagine Ayatollah Khamenei enjoying the films of Woody Allen, for example, or perhaps a romantic comedy or two — he prefers a good book:
#Books r so important. I really believe in arts,#Cinema,etc.but book has a notable role&status that can’t be taken by anything else. 11/5/93
— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 14, 2013