Being a hugely enjoyable article by Joe Queenan about the love of books - '[b]ooks that we can touch; books that we can smell; books that we can depend on.' He reads fiction for at least two hours a day, and that is about what I do, though I haven't always, and I wish I had. Queenan writes:
No matter what they may tell themselves, book lovers do not read primarily to obtain information or to while away the time. They read to escape to a more exciting, more rewarding world.
And he writes:
People who need to possess the physical copy of a book, not merely an electronic version, believe that the objects themselves are sacred. Some people may find this attitude baffling, arguing that books are merely objects that take up space. This is true, but so are Prague and your kids and the Sistine Chapel.
The whole thing.
