Books on Books

“Back at the fire circle, Jinny opened the book, cradling its worn spine in one hand as she turned the soft, crumbling pages with the other.  All the kids knew to be careful with the books.  They were swollen, faded, eaten by the salt air and the grit of sand, not to mention so many grubby, grabbing fingers.  When a book died, there was nothing to be done about it.  The kids could only bury it in the sandy earth beyond the book cabin door and try to remember the story.  They marked these little graves with the biggest shells they could find.  It made a funny sort of garden.”

Orphan Island

by Laurel Snyder

Loved, loved, loved this book so review to follow later this evening.

Books on Books

"I just wanted to say," Ava said, "thank you all for letting me into the book group.  I haven't read, I mean, really read, in such a long time."

A sharp memory of her mother's small bookstore came to her.  She could see the little girl she was, sitting in a worn easy chair, happily reading.

"It used to bring me such pleasure," Ava said softly, "And then things happened in my life, and books lost the magic they once held for me.  I fell like I'm rediscovering that."

Penny nodded knowingly.

                                                                    from "the book that matters most" by Ann Hood
                                                                    (review to follow)

Books on Books

I haven’t posted one of these in quite some time, but I do love it when a character in a book loves books!

From “Eight Days” by Scott Thompson (my review coming soon)

“Clive went to his bookshelf and ran his fingers across the books that had brought him comfort during his life and he wasn’t surprised that they still brought him comfort.  He felt the dry leather that covered a book of his father’s and he knelt down to smell the musty pages.  Over the years, he had always kept his favorite books close to him.  He had a larger bookshelf in his bedroom, but the books he wanted close to him during his waking hours he kept there.

“I’m going to miss reading,” Clive said to Pachu.

“You mean you don’t plan to read in Heaven?”

“So there are books in Heaven?”

“Yeah, sure.  The best books ever written line the shelves of libraries that stretch for miles.”  Pachu looked off in an imaginary distance like he was surveying the shelves.  “The most dedicated librarians in history maintain and collect the great works.”  Pachu tapped the top of Clive’s bookshelf with his hand.  “Even books that were never published on Earth are there.  Beautiful stories that were written by authors who doubted that they had the talent to share their tales.  They gain confidence up there and finally share their writing.  Twain was good, I’ll admit, but I think you’ll be impressed with the talented authors you never heard of here.  You can meet them.  We often have readings.”

Clive never imagined books in Heaven.  But he had never thought much about Heaven.  People spoke of seeing your loved ones again and that sounded great, but the rest never appealed much to him.  Walking golden streets and singing in a giant choir was fine, but also boring after a while.  If there were books to read, and authors to hear, and concerts, what else was there?”

A Dog's View of Books

“Ellie was doing all right in my book, although I had no books at the moment, and had really only possessed one in my life, much too briefly; namely an extremely tasty leather-bound volume that I’d sniffed out at the home of a – judge, was it? – where Bernie and I’d been invited to a big, noisy party.  I myself spent a quiet evening, curled up behind a couch with my book.  A very pleasant memory to this day!  And if things had gone down-hill later – some back-and-forth about first editions and Mark Twain autographs, whatever those happened to be – why let it spoil things?  That’s one of my core beliefs.”

Chet the Dog

in "Scents and Sensibility"

Books on Books

“Books are more than doctors, of course.  Some novels are loving, lifelong companions; some give you a clip around the ear; others are friends who wrap you in warm towels when you’ve got those autumn blues.  And some … well, some are pink candyfloss that tingle in your brain for three seconds and leaves a blissful void.  Like a short, torrid love affair.”

* * * 

“I read books – twenty at a time.  Everywhere: in the toilet, in the kitchen, in café’s, on the metro.”

* * *

“Monsieur Perdu set down for the waiter Thierry an ebook reader that a hectic publishing salesman had left behind.  For avid readers like Thierry, who would have his nose in a novel even between orders and had a crooked back from hauling books around (“I can only breath if I read, Perdu”), these devices were the invention of the century; for booksellers, one more nail in their coffin.”

Always a Work in Progress

When I started this blog I had some pretty firm ideas on what I wanted to do and say and review.  Well, best laid plans and all that.  I've learned like any other creative
(I hope) venture this blog will always be a work in progress.

1.  I've already changed my mind about posting reviews.  I hemmed and hawed and then decided ... YES!

So, I continued on reading my books and pondering what else I had to say that could possibly be of interest to anyone reading on here.  As I'm turning pages, every once in a while I read a sentence or a paragraph that makes me stop to go back and reread it.  Usually, by this point I'm thinking to myself "Wow, the author must have written that and then given him/herself a high five".  It could be something that tickles my funny bone at that moment, or something that stops me in my reading tracks and makes me think, or almost anything else.  When that happens I try to remember to include the quote in my review, but more often than not I end up maniacally flipping back through pages and pages of the book without finding the exact part I'm looking for.  I hate when that happens.

2.  I've decided I am going to try to be diligent and bookmark pages so I can use the quotes.  When I use a quote from a book just because it tickled my fancy, or stood out as special, or pulled a thread for me personally I'll put my little "Book Bytes" icon beside it.


I love it when characters in the books I am reading have a love of books.  I don't specifically search out books about books, although if there is a bookstore setting, a bookseller/librarian character or a plot-line about books there is a pretty good chance I am going to at least have a peek at it.

Sooooo ...

3.  Appearing every once in while, magically a "BOOK ON BOOKS" post will appear.  It will just be a random quote that appeared in a book that is about books.

No time like the present, so here's the first one in what I hope to be ongoing posts.

From "Kindred" by Octavia E. Butler

We never really moved in together, Kevin and I.  I had a sardine-can sized apartment on Crenshaw Boulevard and he had a bigger one on Olympic not too far away.  We both had books shelved and stacked and boxed and crowding out the furniture.  Together, we would never have fitted into either of our apartments.  Kevin did suggest once that I get red of some of my books so that I'd fit into his place.

"You're out of your mind!" I told him.

"Just some of that book-club stuff that you don't read."

We were at my apartment then, so I said, "Let's go to your place and I'll help you decide which of your books you don't read.  I'll even help you throw them out."

He looked at me and sighed, but he didn't say anything else.