A private library of good size is an insolent form of riches, and the desire to have more books is difficult to rationalize, especially in view of the fact that you do not or cannot read them all but, as Bonnet makes clear, still you might. The bibliophile is, after all, like a sultan or khan who has countless wives already but another two or three are always irresistible. Reading is a pastime and can be regarded as such, but it can also be supremely important.
Reading Jacques Bonnet’s “Phantoms on the Bookshelves” : The New Yorker

Source: newyorker.com

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  1. elizs posted this