Wednesday, October 23, 2019

"Every Bookstore Is Like a Safe-Deposit Box for Civilization"

Liam Callanan
I finished Liam Callanan's Paris by the Book this afternoon and will be doing a full review sometime in the next three or four days. I really liked this one a lot, not the least because it contains one of my favorite book/bookstore quotes ever:
Such hope is resilient; every town, every book, is a way to say, look, there's a new way, a different way. Every book in every bookstore is a fresh beginning. Every book is the next iteration of a very old story. Every bookstore, therefore, is like a safe-deposit box for civilization."
I have been collecting quotes about reading, books, bookstores and libraries for a long time, and this is one of the best I've found in a while.

7 comments:

  1. It is so very wonderful. By the way, every time I visit I think the fellow in the header is a statue of Kirk Douglas. ;<)))

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    1. Nan, you're right, he does look a little like Kirk Douglas from back in the day. It's funny that I never noticed that. Almost from the first time I saw this piece in front of a library, the guy looked like the country singer Ray Price to me and I could never see the picture without thinking of Ray. Maybe now I'll thin of both of them.

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  2. I love that you collect quotes about all things bookish. :-)

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    1. I just realized last night that I've misplaced my notebook that had about 15 years worth of quotes written inside. I did some "office cleaning" last month and I'm just hoping I didn't accidentally toss it out with the junk I threw away. Now the search is on. This could be bad.

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  3. Oooh, I love this quote! It's lovely and so, so true. I also collect book/reading quotes - I'll have to add this one to my collection. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Glad you guys enjoyed the quote. It's one of my favorites.

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