The pleasures of reading itself—who doesn’t remember?—were like those of a Christmas cake, a sweet devouring. ~ Eudora Welty I found this quote from Welty’s “A Sweet Devouring” in The Open Door: When Writers First Learned to Read, in which 29 writers recall their discovery of books and reading. Writers include Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, … Read more
If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A home without books is like a room without windows….A little library, growing every year, is an honorable part of a man’s history. It is a man’s duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessities of life.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity…. We cherish books: even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, assurance. A. E. Newton Ah…. Someone who understands … Read more
When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes. ~ Desiderius Erasmus
In addition to its annual book sale, our local library has a few tables of books for sale year round, as well as a small locked book-sale room occasionally manned by a Friend of the Library. The room is stocked primarily with current hardcover fiction—which interests me not at all, a couple of shelves of … Read more