ASourceOfJoy: The Bibliophile's Niche

Nobody who can read is ever successful in cleaning out an attic.

Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one.
--Birrell

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.
--Mary Worley Montagu

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all.
--Henry Thoreau

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, lierature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
--Barbara Tuchman

Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some to be chewed and digested.
--Francis Bacon

When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls. What is to happen next will happen within the four walls of the story.
--John Berger

A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his desires, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye.
--Emerson

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.
--Henry Ward Beecher

One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.
--E.M. Forster

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.
--Amos Bronson Alcott

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity, and once more in old age; as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon, and by moonlight.
--Robertson Davies

A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at the end of it. You live several lives while reading it.
--William Styron

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
--Marcus Tullius Cicero

A classic is a book that doesn't have to be written again.

The Bibliophile's Niche...

Ever since Mother taught me how to read when I was about 5 years old, I have been a complete bibliophile. I am fascinated with words and can think of few more lovely pastimes than to curl up on a rainy day with a good book, a sleepy cat, and something to munch on. :-) The mere outward appearance of books delights me and I have been guilty of buying old books just because they "look so neat!"
Through the years I have collected a large library of my favorite volumes... Shelves of books surround our livingroom, fill my desk areas, and overflow into stacks of boxes. Very few of these have been purchased new, for my penchant for books is balanced with an ingrained thriftiness. What a thrill it is to find a $10 book for only 25 cents at a library book sale, or a $20 antique at a thrift store for 75 cents! :-)
In the past few years I have had a small business of reselling books at the Iowa homeschool convention and online. I purchase good books wherever I find bargains and am able to make a bit of profit myself, while still passing along good deals on excellent literature to my customers. This has been a delightful opportunity for me to be a blessing to others while doing something I thoroughly enjoy -- and it gives me a good excuse to buy lots of books! To see the list of titles I currently have for sale, head on over to The Bibliophile's Niche.

I am a rapid reader, having become quite "expert" at skimming. Though I rarely take time to actually sit down and read, I often go through several books in a week's time, simply by snatching a few moments here and there through each day. I read too quickly in many cases, though; two readings are often required for me to fully "get" a book's import.
One way I measure the worth of a book is by how penetrating it is -- if I can set it aside and practically forget what I was reading, it likely won't make it onto my recommended reading list. If, however, I feel as if I am "experiencing" the story myself; if I can't help but review the events over and over, discovering what I can learn from them -- then it is a good book. I find myself saying with Anne Frank, "If I read a book that impresses me, I have to take myself firmly in hand before I mix with other people; otherwise they would think my mind rather queer." ;-)
It is because of this fact that I am trying to be increasingly careful as to what I spend my time reading. Henry Thoreau once said, "Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all." This is so true -- why waste time reading poorly-written books, or, worse yet, books which give a distorted view of life and truth?
On this page, I've listed a few books that have been meaningful to me. I have found these volumes to be educational, encouraging, enlightening, and much more. This list is by far incomplete! I only add to this page as time allows....my list of recommended books is far more extensive. And do be sure to drop me a note if you have some titles to recommend to me in turn. :-)

A fellow bibliophile,

P.S. Please use prayerful discretion when choosing to read any of the books listed on my reviews page. The presence of a book on this list does not mean I fully agree with everything in it, much less by other works by these authors. Often I will disagree with a number of things in a book, yet consider it well worth reading because it challenges my thinking and helps me come to know God better.

A good book is never exhausted. It goes on whispering to you from the wall. Books pefume and give weight to a room. A bookcase is as good as a view, as the sight of a city or river. There are dawns and sunsets in books -- storms, fogs, zephyrs.

I read about a family whose apartment consists of a series of spaces so strictly planned that they are obliged to give away bok sas soon as they've read them. I think they have misunderstood the way books work. Reading a book is only the first step in the relationship. After you've finished it, the book enters on it's real career. It stands there like a badge, a blackmailer, a momument, a scar. It's both a flaw in the look, like crack int he plaster, and a decoration. The contents of someone's bookcase are a part of his history, like an ancestoral portrait.

--Anatole Broyard

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