Friday, January 21, 2011

Oh for a book and a shady nook...

Or a book and a comfortable chair, cozy blanket, and warm fire...but that doesn't rhyme.  We love books.  We love to read books, we love to buy books, and we love to browse through books at bookstores, the library, or online. Anyone who helped us move knows that we like books--we don't even have enough bookshelf space for all of them.  We think maybe we should get rid of a few, but which ones?  So we keep them all.   Neither Russ or I will ever be e-reader or kindle people.  We both like the smell and feel of a book in our hands.  We sometimes wonder if we are strange in our compulsion to buy books and line our bookshelves.  But then I found some of these quotes and realized we are not as strange as I thought.  Maybe some of you can identify with some of them.  


 Where is human nature so weak as in a bookstore?
 - Henry Ward Beecher

Wear the old coat and buy the new book.
 - Austin Phelps



Oh for a book and a shady nook…
  - John Wilson (1785 – 1854)

 
Do give books – religious or otherwise – for Christmas. They’re never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal.   - Lenore Hershey 

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. - Anna Quindlen    

 
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
  - Sir Richard Steele


“TV.” If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they’ll have with twenty-six. Open your child’s imagination. Open a book.
  - Author Unknown


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

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
  - Mark Twain


The function of a good book is to stand like a signpost guiding the reader to the Truth and the Life.
  - A.W. Tozer


Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence.
  - Jan Morris

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

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


No furniture so charming as books.
  - Rev. Sydney Smith


Tell me what you read and I’ll tell you who you are is true enough, but I’d know you better if you told me what you reread.
  - François Mauriac


When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.
  - Desiderius Erasmus


God be thanked for books! they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages.
  - W.E. Channing


A blessed companion is a book – a book that, fitly chosen, is a lifelong friend… a book that, at a touch, pours its heart into our own.
  - Douglas Jerrold


A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counsellor, a multitude of counsellors.
  - Henry Ward Beecher 


You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a mother who read to me.
  - Strickland Gillilan

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Laura -- If Becca hasn't already informed you, I am kind of stalking your blog. :) It has been so good for me to read about your Michigan adventure. I especially loved this post... I am a book lover and always have been. The only draw to an e-reader for me is that whole instant gratification thing. :) I admit to sometimes hearing about a book... and wanting it NOW! I order many books from www.betterworldbooks.com -- cheap used books, free shipping, but very slow to arrive. :)

    For your book-loving little ones, I have to recommend one that just arrived in the book order last week: Abe Lincoln, The Boy Who Loved Books. It reads like a poem (but not an annoying overly-rhyming one). :)

    Heather Van Es
    PS -- Is it really considered "stalking" if we're praying for you too?

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  2. Thank-you for the book idea and website. I am also a "now" person when it comes to getting a book in my hand so not sure how I'll do with the "very slow to arrive." :) We are humbled that you follow (not stalk) our blog and are praying for us! Laura

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