I've never been a voracious reader. I would love to be, but I find myself being distracted by too many other things to call myself a true bookworm. I have an eclectic mix of interests, mostly artsy-based things like film and music, but my time is also taken up with anomalies such as boxing, stone masonry and vintage bicycles. But books are important to me, and I resolved at the beginning of the year to read more literature. If I took this resolution more seriously, I should be edging towards double figures by now. But alas, I'm only at two. The first of 2015 was 'The People of Providence', a fascinating social study of residents on a South London housing estate. It was written in the 1980s by oral historian Tony Parker. I began reading it about seven or eight years ago, having read 'Lighthouse', the equally intriguing study of several lighthouse keepers, but gave up on this one about half way through. I managed to get through...