Coree B. (Coreegirl) reviewed A Passion for Books : A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books on + 216 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Excellent book filled with both modern and historic essays on the nature of book hoarding, collecting, shopping and anecdotes.
Stephanie C. (crawford) reviewed A Passion for Books : A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books on + 59 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
As a book & reading fanatic, this wonderful volume has become one of my favorite and most re-read books. It's a collection of book collecting & reading essays (including two by Umberto Eco!), a few poems, a few "best of" lists (including Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plans selections) and some great comics. Some of my favorites include "Unpacking My Library" by Walter Benjamin, where he shares his ritual of how he buys books, enters them into his database and organizes them on his shelf- it actually reminded me a lot of what I do. :) I also loved the short history of the "Book of the Month Club" by one of its founders, and lists like W. Somerset Maugham's top 10 favorite novels. If you enjoy reading about books, enjoy book collecting as much or almost as much as reading, you will love this book.
"In A Second-Hand Bookshop" by Christopher Morley
What waits me on the shelves? I cannot guess,
But feel the sure forebodings; there will cry
A voice of human laughter and distress
A word that no one needs as much as I.
For always where old books are sold and bought
There comes a twinge of dreadful subtlety-
These words were actual, and they were thought
By someone who was once alive, like me.
