For the love of books

If anything ever made me as happy as reading books makes my younger daughter, I would be very fortunate, indeed. School book fairs are a commercial endeavor, to be sure, but they also help reinforce a child’s love of books. And that’s a very good thing.

Keeping Winter at bay

Today is the birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who is best known for The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, but who also wrote the following couplet: The love of learning, the sequestered nooks And all the sweet serenity of books There’s another cold day outside, here in Chicago. Keeping warm is essential this winter, more

Books on a shelf

I find myself in a hotel in Kentucky for the first night of Spring break. In the lobby, along with several horse-related art works, some nicely-appointed leather chairs, and the obligatory bar/meeting space, are several shelves filled with books. It made for a nice visual, and I snapped a picture of a few shelves before

An allegiance to the heart

I’m just wading into a book called “Chicago Stories” edited by John Miller. I picked it up at an estate sale last weekend, and it’s exactly why I go to them in the first place. No matter what else is available for sale, it always starts–and usually ends–with the books. I look for history topics,

Crossing the digital bridge

From the time when I first read Dr. Seuss as a child, I’ve always enjoyed the experience of books: acquiring them, reading them, telling others about them, and giving them away to others. Just last week I loaned out my long-ignored but recently-read copy of W.P, Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe. The printed and bound word has

This is different from books

In the time that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve put thousands and thousands of words together into hundreds of little word morsels. And they haven’t been–and won’t ever be–published into traditional book form, which is something I take as a good thing. As I see it, the moment that ink meets paper is when

The new Borders?

There was a Borders store not too far from where I live in Chicago. I won’t say that I went there a lot, but I liked the fact that it was there. And now it’s gone, and I miss it. I took this picture when I was in a Dollar store the other day. It

The future of books

If I haven’t admitted this before, I love having books. I enjoy reading them, but there’s also something about surrounding yourself with lots of books. I think it makes a statement about valuing the written word. I frequently go to yard sales and book fairs, searching for old books that I can buy for a