Part of the reason reading is so important to me is the ability of people to express thoughts, ideas and emotions with the written word. I also recognize there are plenty of people who can do that far, far better than I. The latest case in point is a blog entry I came across through the Goodreads blog.
Mandy Brown is a creative director at publisher W.W. Norton & Company. She also has a blog called a working library (actually, the full title appears to be sshhh! This is a working library.). On Sunday, she posted her thoughts on ways of reading. All nine are not only insightful and true, they are so impressive, I couldn’t resist posting a couple of them as an fitting way to end the year.
“Every book alights a path to other books. Follow these paths as far as you can. This is how you build a library.”
“The best library contains both books you have read, and books you have not. The latter should grow in proportion as the library expands. A working library is as much a place for the possible as it is a record of the past.”
Thank you, Mandy, for such cogent observations. I sure wish I’d said it.
A single book struggles to balance on its spine; it pines for neighbors. Keep as many books as you have room for.
Mandy Brown, “Ways of Reading”
