#book

The book itself is a curious artifact, not showy in its technology but complex and extremely efficient: a really neat little device, compact, often very pleasant to look at and handle, that can last decades, even centuries. It doesn't have to be plugged in, activated, or performed by a machine; all it needs is light, a human eye, and a human mind. It is not one of a kind, and it is not ephemeral. It lasts. It is reliable. If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you're fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you're reading a whole new book." (Staying Awake: Notes on the alleged decline of reading, Harper's Magazine, February 2008) ↗

— Ursula K. Le Guin

#technology

A woman's destiny, they say, is not fulfilled until she holds in her arms her own little book. ↗

— Caroline Mytinger

#destiny #girl #woman #women #destiny

While there may not be a book in every one of us, there is so often a damned good short story. ↗

— Jeffrey Archer

#book #short-story #short-story

My youngest brother had a wonderful schtick from some time in high school, through to graduating medicine. He had a card in his wallet that read, ‘If I am found with amnesia, please give me the following books to read …’ And it listed half a dozen books where he longed to recapture that first glorious sense of needing to find out ‘what happens next’ … the feeling that keeps you up half the night. The feeling that comes before the plot’s been learned. ↗

— Guy Gavriel Kay

#reading #school

... texting, even browsing the Internet - all these things can attract monsters. ↗

— Rick Riordan

#internet

Josh will begin disappearing into a future where the only place he and I remain friends is on the Internet. ↗

— Jay Asher

#friends #future #internet

Josh turns to me. “I can’t believe she’s writing these things.” “Not she,” I say. “Me.” “Why would anyone say this stuff about themselves on the Internet? It’s crazy!” “Exactly,” I say. “I’m going to be mentally ill in fifteen years, and that’s why my husband doesn’t want to be around me. ↗

— Jay Asher

#status-updates #internet

I am simply a 'book drunkard.' Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them. ↗

— L.M. Montgomery

#temptation

Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage. "It makes me feel as if something had hit me," Sara had told Ermengarde once in confidence. "And as if I want to hit back. I have to remember things quickly to keep from saying something ill-tempered. ↗

— Frances Hodgson Burnett

#temptation

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#kindness