My job right now is very numbers-oriented. But I love words. I love the way that hardcovers feel. Or the way that old books smell. During college, one of my favorite way to spend a Sunday morning is to rummage through a book yard sale (after a HUGE brunch, of course) – I’d buy books for $1 or $2, and sometimes the really old editions would have lovely pencil script inside the cover, and I’d imagine who before me have read and loved the story.
Anyhow, this is a quotation that I’ve found, and I love it.
When I was little, my ambition was to grow up to be a book. Not a writer. People can be killed like ants. Writers are not hard to kill either. But not books. However systematically you try to destroy them, there is always a chance that a copy will survive and continue to enjoy a shelf-life in some corner of the an out-of-the-way library somewhere, in Rekjavik, Valladolid, or Vancouver.
- Amos Oz
How do people come up with such beautiful passages?
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what a poignant saying! i love reading too…but i get much more satisfaction out of being the first person to read the fresh pages and crack the spine…ooh love that feeling!
I actually frequent thrift stores for deals on books. Goodwill kicks ass!
That is a great quote indeed. But I do have to say that I’d still rather be a butterfly.
Wow. I love this! I read constantly (I was both an English major and an English teacher for a while), and one of my lifelong dreams is to own my own used bookstore for the very reason you described. I love the smell of old books, and peeking at other people’s margin notes, and that strange, wonderful feeling that the book has a story and a history, just like me.
And, per your “Goals” post, I didn’t hate Wicked, though it’s not one of my favorites. If you’ve seen the musical, brace yourself; it’s a completely different beast. It’s not hardcover, but if you want my copy of it (and don’t mind paying shipping from NYC), then you’re welcome to it.
That’s great, thanks for posting that quote. I love books and don’t usually get rid of many. My goal would be to have a house with a study/extra bedroom to turn into a library.
Great quote!
Maybe I’m part of the new generation…but I do most of my reading online. Even when I do my Bible studying…I read it online where I can run searches for terms etc… I guess my eyes are trained to read computer text better than they are at paper text.
I wonder if books will one day be replaced like CDs have been replaced by iTunes etc.
~Raymond
that is a gorgeous quote, thanks! enjoying your blog.