Staying alive between the covers of a book

Why not put your Ipad down, step through the wardrobe door, and into the wonderful world of a library?

At the very least, read the below quote from E.B. White.

Alan Jacobs, an author I thoroughly enjoy reading, writes:

At the always-wonderful Letters of Note, some lovely responses from writers asked to tell the children of Troy, Michigan what’s good about a library. My favorite response is E. B. White’s, tinged as it is with that gentle melancholy that characterizes most of his writing and that children responded to surprisingly well:

A library is many things. It’s a place to go, to get in out of the rain. It’s a place to go if you want to sit and think. But particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books. If you want to find out about something, the information is in the reference books — the dictionaries, the encyclopedias, the atlases. If you like to be told a story, the library is the place to go. Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together — just the two of you. A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people — people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.

4 thoughts on “Staying alive between the covers of a book

  1. My Kindle is a sort of library also, but there is a difference. For one thing wandering through a library you find treasures that you wouldn’t know about by searching on a Kindle or iPad. My husband says that when he sits in our own library with books surrounding him on three sides that he feels as though he is sitting among his friends.

  2. I just received a Nook from my son & family at Christmas and I am learning how to use it. Have worked a lot of simple puzzles so far. Waiting on my grandson to show me how to down load a book. I would love for the first book to be bound together by Chris Brauns. My children and Chris with his brothers & sisters grew up together.

    I have his first book, “Unpacking Forgiveness,” and have read it.

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