This is so short that i read it twice. But its length is not the point of the book, it should be considered as an expresso, a distillation of a longer tome into something that you can consume in a moment.Barnes writes here of his love of the printed book, from the discovery of books on his parents and grandparents shelves to the joy of discovering a first edition.It is his account of an affair that he has had all his life, he has resisted the temptation of the svelte, young ereader, and long may he do so. I've become more and more interested in reading about people's relationships with books and how they became bibliophiles. So reading Julian Barnes' essay about his life with books was very enjoyed to me. Barnes talks manly about become a collector of books but he does cover finding his love for books and reading as well. It was interesting to read his opinion of books vs ereaders and the bit that stood out the most was when he said "books look like they contain knowledge while ereaders just look like they contain information". I thought this was an interesting point to finish up this book.I would love to read more books or essays like this but I don't know what would be good so I need to find some recommendations.
"When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge deeper into it."
—hayhay
Very short but it said almost everything I felt about books. I love this!
—fung
Brilliant short essay about his relationship with books. Lovely.
—apearlb
Glad to read about someones similar love of (buying) books.
—charae
