Dearly Beloved – We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a devoted friend. She has given us all so much over the years. But, in the end, she simply could not survive the ceaseless clamor of the modern world. There is no need for an autopsy: We have killed her. With our own two hands. Some with the right. And some with the left. The death of reading is already having a profound effect on society. Even at elite universities, students are no longer being assigned novels to read - because they have never developed the ability to read them. In one study, a group of literature students was asked to summarize the first few paragraphs of Bleak House. It may as well have been written in Mandarin. At Georgetown University (my alma mater) the chairman of the English Department admits that his students struggle to stay focused - even on a sonnet. There is also a sinister political dimension to the death of reading. The tyrant of today knows he doesn’t have to ban books - or burn them - to subjugate the people. His endless distractions will keep their minds enslaved. I would like to introduce our honorary pallbearers: William Shakespeare (Sonnets), Dr Johnson (The Rambler), Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice), Charles Dickens (Bleak House) and Virginia Woolf (Mrs Dalloway). They will speak to us most eloquently. Of what we have lost forever. Please join me for this memorial tribute. To the Dearly Departed.