Sonderquotes

Library as Support Group

There is a belief that once you begin to open books, you will become a better person.  It is Pandora’s box, but in a good way.  You are inching toward the promised land, page by page.  And it doesn’t matter if you subscribe to this theory or not.  The subscription has already been bought and paid for.

We are all misfits, poseurs, and clowns.  We are heartbroken and lonely, failures in life, criminals and frauds.  Most of our successes are pleasant illusions.  Through the books on the shelves, the library becomes a support group and lets us know that we are not alone.  Once we realize we are not alone, we can relax, set our burdens down, and move on.

– Don Borchert, Free for All, p. xiv-xv

The True Glory of the Library

Sometimes a library use is simple.  You want something, go to the library to get it, and leave satisfied.  Sometimes it can be more than that.  You look at a website on a library computer and that reminds you of a book of which you have not thought for years or takes you to an article by someone completely unknown to you that, in turn, takes you to a DVD of a half-forgotten movie.  Once you have had that experience, you understand the true glory of the library — that complex and never-ending series of connections to the entire human record.

– Michael Gorman, Our Own Selves:  More Meditations for Librarians, p. 204

Books Confirm Your Own Opinion.

But then books, as I’m sure you know, seldom prompt a course of action.  Books generally just confirm you in what you have, perhaps unwittingly, decided to do already.  You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated.  A book, as it were, closes the book.

– The Queen, in The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, p. 114

So Many Books

“Pass the time?” said the Queen.  “Books are not about passing the time.  They’re about other lives.  Other worlds.  Far from wanting time to pass, Sir Kevin, one just wishes one had more of it.  If one wanted to pass the time one could go to New Zealand.”

– The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett, p. 29

Reading and Travel

There are some who say that sitting at home reading is the equivalent of travel, because the experiences described in the book are more or less the same as the experiences one might have on a voyage, and there are those who say that there is no substitute for venturing out into the world.  My own opinion is that it is best to travel extensively but to read the entire time, hardly glancing up to look out of the window of the airplane, train, or hired camel.

– Lemony Snicket, Horseradish, p. 85

Realistic Books

Neither my mother nor my dog dies in this book.  I’m rather tired of those types of stories.  In my opinion, such fantastical, unrealistic books — books in which boys live on mountains, families work on farms, or anyone has anything to do with the Great Depression — have a tendency to rot the brain.  To combat such silliness, I’ve written the volume you now hold — a solid, true account.  Hopefully, it will help anchor you in reality.

So, when people try to give you some book with a shiny round award on the cover, be kind and gracious, but tell them that you don’t read “fantasy,” because you prefer stories that are real.  Then come back here and continue your research on the cult of evil Librarians who secretly rule the world.

– Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, by Brandon Sanderson, p. 50

The Message of Macbeth

“Shakespeare did not write for your ease of reading,” she said.

No kidding, I thought.

“He wrote to express something about what it means to be a human being in words more beautiful than had ever yet been written.”

“So in Macbeth, when he wasn’t trying to find names that sound alike, what did he want to express in words more beautiful than had ever yet been written?”

Mrs. Baker looked at me for a long moment.  Then she went and sat back down at her desk.  “That we are made for more than power,” she said softly.  “That we are made for more than our desires.   That pride combined with stubbornness can be disaster.  And that compared with love, malice is a small and petty thing.”

– Gary D. Schmidt, The Wednesday Wars

Book Bliss

We know that we do not need personal books — least of all librarian book collectors — but there is something about the way they speak to us unopened and spring to life when opened.  It is good to sit at home in peace surrounded by the books that mean so much to me, even if neither utilitarianism nor rationalism can tell me why.

– Michael Gorman, Our Singular Strengths:  Meditations for Librarians, p. 142

The Power of Literature

Through reading literature, you see, I coexperience others’ struggles and occasional joys.  Great literature grows me.

– Patty Kirk, Confessions of an Amateur Believer, p. 75

A Noble Profession

With the firestorm and controversy out of which The Higher Power of Lucky emerged unscathed, I am more than ever confirmed in my belief that librarianship is a noble profession, essential to free speech and free access for children.  It is crucial to children’s ability to make sense of this fragile, battered world — the world we’re handing over to them.  I’m grateful to have spent thirty-five years promoting children’s books.  It’s work you can look back on and know you made a difference in people’s lives, and as cliched as that sounds, I believe it profoundly.

– Susan Patron, Newbery Medal Acceptance Speech, June 24, 2007.