Sometimes I wish the past tense of "read" was spelt differently so that a subjectless report like "Read such-and-such a book" wouldn't look like a command
Can't think of a viable alternative, though, and even if I could, it wouldn't catch on
"When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
'His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.'" —Hilaire Belloc
And it makes "lead" even more confusing and subject to frequent mistakes.