Jaakko casually crossed my path last week while I was on the road in Finland’s Biblebelt. As a reporter, I had arranged with a pastor there. He was waiting for me at the church entrance with two others. One of them was Jaakko.

The best Bible is the one we actually open and read. But is that a paper version or a digital Bible? Research shows that reading on paper has a deeper impact, writes the Swedish theologian Joel Halldorf.

This year, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to a Catholic Christian author from Norway.

His friends called him “the boy with the shining eyes.” When he was only 14 years old, Ivo Hristov published his first book. By this time, he had written five collections of short stories and was working on a sixth one.

In our church library, a separate shelf has been set aside for books by forgotten authors. To my surprise, I find a book in this very cupboard with Chinese characters on its cover. Curious, I pick it up.

From time to time, Swedish detective writers use Christian characters in their novels. Research learns that the image of believers in Swedish fiction is usually not positive.

The Pope would have known how cruel the Russians were if he had read Dostoevsky carefully. That said the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States.

What happened to the days when mothers would chase their children outside because they were too captured by a book? By now, many parents and teachers have reached the point where they are happy that youngsters are reading – even if it is just a comic book.

Today, it is the UN's Literacy Day. Most of the dedicated days pass unnoticed by me. But since I see myself as an ambassador of story reading to kids, it is my honour to cherish this day.

Reading thick books during your leisure time, summarising them, and even saying that that helps to refresh? For many years after my graduation, I could not think that would be me. But for a few years, I love to really study during the holidays.