"For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die."What have books shown you?
--Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Great quote. I love that book.
ReplyDeleteyes, Bird by Bird is a wonderful book and that quote is so true.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Bird by Bird for the first time right now and it's incredibly inspiring :o)
ReplyDeleteUnlike the other LADIES I HAVEN'T yet read the book - the quote, however, has certainly made me want to get into it - VERY SOON!
ReplyDeleteTHANKS BUFFY!
Ann Marie, I also recommend Stephen King's book On Writing. It's very good, too.
ReplyDeleteFor me, in my childhood, books were my escape from a not so wonderful reality. I spent hours every Saturday in the kid's library in the public library in the small town we moved to when we first moved to America. We believed the grass would be greener, so to speak, here and we would be better off. (Are now, so it turned out okay.) But it wasn't. Books allowed me to find the ideal family and to travel back to the museums an galaries that I had been used to going to in London. Books saved me and showed me that I could have that ideal family and visit wonderful places and see pieces of history. I LOVE BOOKS!!! (Sorry for wandering off in my own direction in your comments.)
ReplyDeleteI get what you're saying, Sharon. And that's the power of books. They can take us to places we will never have the opportunity to travel to, experience things we might not ever experience, etc. Books make us cry and laugh and hope and get mad. They're magic!
ReplyDeleteI found your post on Miss Snark's First Victim. :) Do you think you can find mine?
ReplyDeleteBooks are magic...I think that's why we want so much to be a part of that world.
I had sooo much fun on Miss Snark's contest I think I entered like 10 times. It was really addicting.
ReplyDeleteLove your new look!
ReplyDeleteI just finished /Bird by Bird/ and this is one of the passages I highlighted, too.
Inspiring.
Another of my favorites is by Jane Yolen in /Take Joy./
"Fiction is more than a recitation of facts or author embellishments. It is reality surprised. It shakes us up and makes us see familiar things in new ways. Fiction is like wrestling with angels--you do not expect to win, but you do expect to come away from the experience changed."