22 Quotes by Lewis Buzbee

The books of our childhood offer a vivid door to our own pasts, and not necessarily for the stories we read there, but for the memories of where we were and who we were when we were reading them; to remember a book is to remember the child who read that book.

Books connect us with others, but that connection is created in solitude, one reader in one chair hearing one writer, what John Irving refers to as one genius speaking to another.

Books are slow. They require time; they are written slowly, published slowly, and read slowly.

Rereading a favorite novel first read 5, 10, or 20 years ago, is a measure of our travel, how far we’ve come; it’s a way of visiting an earlier self.

Maturity and experience shouldn’t stop one from craving silly things like sliding down bannisters.

The technology of the book is much more flexible than film, more user friendly. The reader can dip into the book at will, without electricity, and is always aware of where she is in the book, halfway through, a third of the way, mere pages from the end, her fingers helping to measure the excitement of coming to the conclusion.

Books, I knew then and now, give body to our ideas and imaginations, make them flesh in the world; a bookstore is the city where our fleshed-out inner selves reside.

We are much more likely to be drawn to a messy bookstore than a neat one because the mess signifies vitality. We are not drawn to a bookstore because of tasteful, Finnish shelves in gunmetal gray mesh, each one displaying three carefully chosen, color-coordinated covers. Clutter – orderly clutter, if possible – is what we expect. Like a city. It’s not quite a city unless there’s more than enough.

The bookstore and the coffeehouse are natural allies; Neither has a time limit, slowness is encouraged.