A Book Addict's Treasury

This is an anthology of quotations and extracts about books and booklovers, and it's a perfect example of what this kind of anthology should be. The quotations range in length from a couple of lines to a couple of pages, but they are all interesting, fresh and cleverly expressed. They are intelligently arranged: by topic - a chapter on buying books, say, or on shelving them - and within this clustered around themes, so sometimes one quote disagrees with the one before it. And as a final gift, the index is a joy:

teeth, painted scarlet, 49
temptations,
- defied, 77
- liable to great, 199

or margins, a tabula rasa, 195
Marines, tell it to the, 156
Marks and Spencer sandwich, 99
marks, needing an index to give conformity and meaning, show more 200
masterpieces, woefully mistaken on power of, 132
men, greater, unable to find, 142.

You can find something quotable on almost every page. I've chosen this one because it's about the right length, as well as being one of my favourite ones:

I remember once on coming into my library that I was persistently disturbed by my 'Jane Eyre'. Going up to it, wondering what was the matter with it, restless because of it, I only after a morning's uneasiness discovered that it had been placed next to my Jane Austens, and anyone who remembers how sharply Charlotte criticised Jane will understand why this would never do. (Hugh Walpole)

Sadly the story about Wordsworth cutting the pages of a book with a dirty butter-knife, bemoaning the damage as he did so but unable to stop long enough to get a clean one, was too long.

Recommended for: any book devotee who will be relieved to realise that they aren't alone in their strange book-related behaviours! show less

Ok this is a keeper. The organization is awfully clever, as each chapter is about one aspect of loving books. Additionally, within in each chapter, the quotes are arranged so that each very often directly contradicts, or further illuminates, the one preceding it.

I also appreciate the diversity of quotes from many eras and from people of different walks of life and of different degrees of renown. I do wish there were more non-Western inclusions, though. And there's a handy subject index, as well as an author index.

Great fun, especially in morsels of time. Recommended to readers, writers, collectors, reviewers. Probably especially recommended to digital readers, as you could highlight, cross-reference, comment, etc. to your heart's content.

This is essentially a collection of quotes about books and reading drawn from fiction, critical works and memoirs. These extracts are divided into categories, such as 'Buying Books' and 'Bookish Vices', and then arranged into miniature dialogues where each piece plays off the one before. This builds into a delightful book full of 'oh-my-God-that's-me!' moments; I will treasure it and dip into it again and again as time goes by because it expresses universal, enduring sentiments of genuine love for books and the joys of reading.

Yes, it is. Much more than a book of quotes about books, this is a trawling of references to books and reading and libraries from an impressively large number of sources. The bibliography alone makes this worthwhile. Highly recommended.

Synopsis: An anthology of book related quotations and anecdotes, especially made for any bibliophile. Many of the quotes will make a book lover smile and relate.

Pros: A very enjoyable read. One of my favorite lines came right out of the introduction: "Pregnancy is the very best time to read, offering as it does an incontrovertible excuse for immobility." I guess I can relate to that line right now :)

Cons: none

Recommended

Perfect for anyone who just wants to hunker down and immerse themselves in bibliophile book-loving.

Not as great as I hoped it would be.