Realistic Books

Books, Humor, Librarians 0

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

Books, Life, Love, Truth 0

“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

Books 0

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

A Noble Profession

Books, Children and Books, Librarians 0

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.

Good Books; Good Questions

Books, Children and Books 0

All books leave readers with questions; a good book leaves us with good questions.  Asking ourselves if Dumbledore ever found love (or what might have happened if Stanley Yelnats had not found the sneakers, or whether Harriet M. Welsch ever found culinary pleasures beyond tomato sandwiches) is how we give a book life within our imaginations, make it our own.  Like Philip Pullman’s subtle knife, those questions open the fabric between the writer’s universe and our own.

Pullman has been facing some questions of his own….  Pullman’s His Dark Materials presents a magnificent panoply of inquiries — about God, “Dust,” and the human imagination.  Is the trilogy a challenge to the Church?  Absolutely.  But mostly it is a challenge to any readers or pundits who expect a book — or its author — to do their thinking for them….  It’s not a writer’s privilege or responsibility to tell you how to read her or his book.  Talk is cheap, but print, still, is more or less forever.

— Roger Sutton, Editorial, The Horn Book Magazine, January/February 2008

Books and Movies

Books 0

Movies are pale shadows of great books, but some great movies have been made from second-rate books….

Masterpieces of the cinema are independent works with their own qualities — few of which overlap with those of great literature.

— Michael Gorman, Our Singular Strengths:  Meditations for Librarians, p. 79

Mythic Truth of Fiction

Books, Reading, Truth 0

Why else do we read fiction, anyway?  Not to be impressed by someone’s dazzling language — or at least I hope that’s not our reason.  I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not “true” because we’re hungry for another kind of truth:  The mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all:  our own self-story.  Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself.

— Orson Scott Card, Introduction, Ender’s Game, 1991 Tor edition

Improve Their Weekend

Books, Relationships, Writing 0

Whether you are looking for the next step in your pursuit of success or are just trying to be a better, more successful, wife, mother, or friend — it’s important to remember the people you come into contact with.  It’s important to keep those relationships, and be a friend yourself.  And that’s the way I see my readers.  I may not change their lives with the books I write, but I hope I improve their weekend.

— Debbie Macomber, Knit Together, p. 101