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.
Lewis BuzbeeWatching a scene from a film in slow motion is possible, but thereโs an unreal air to it; reading a passage from a book slowly does nothing to rob the words of their power. A film presents images; a book creates images inside the reader, with the readerโs active participation. Books are good for your brain.
Lewis Buzbeeโ"Itโs not as if I donโt have anything to read; thereโs a tower of perfectly good unread books next to my bed, not to mention the shelves of books in the living room Iโve been meaning to reread. I find myself, maddeningly, hungry for the next one, as yet unknown. I no longer try to analyze this hunger; I capitulated long ago to the book lust thatโs afflicted me most of my life.
Lewis BuzbeeI've had many more thousands of books in my possession than my shelves at home would indicate. At one time, I tried to keep them all, but that quest soon became impossible; I now only keep the ones I'm sure I'm going to reread, the ones I'm definitely going to read before I die, and the ones I can't bear to part with because of an aesthetic or emotional attachment.
Lewis Buzbee