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When novelist Chris Paling went for a job at his local library, he anticipated a quiet life. It took two hours between the stacks to discover that the reality was somewhat different. Chris found that at times the library is an extension of A & E; at other times it's a hostel for the homeless; a psychiactric ward; a crime scene; a study hall; a place of safety; a boxing ring; a confessional booth; a theatre space; a venue for knitting and book groups; an information hub for people trying to find a long-lost relative or a job. On most days, the library is all of these. At the core of this wonderful and heartwarming book is the extraordinary cast of characters who visit the library almost every day; the street sleepers like Brewer who use the 'fiction' stacks as their living room; Trish and her friends from the care home who every Wednesday cry, laugh, and shout with anger and joy, and fill the place with surreal conversation. Then there are those who steal anything not screwed down, the drug users who shoot up in the Gents' and the lonely who drift in for their only conversation of the day. Libraries are full of stories. Not all of them in books. Amusing, tragic, surreal and eccentric, Reading Allowed is a fascinating insight into the classic British institution that is our local library.