Monday, January 04, 2010

I have heard that there is a library

"Then what do you do?"

"I sit at home, and--"

"Mend your stockings?"

"No, I don't do that, because it's disagreeable; but I do work a good deal. Sometimes I have amused myself by reading."

"Ah; they never do that here. I have heard that there is a library, but the clue to it has been lost, and nobody now knows the way. I don't believe in libraries. Nobody ever goes into a library to read, any more than you would into a larder to eat. But there is this difference;--the food you consume does come out of the larders, but the books you read never come out of the libraries."

"Except Mudies," said Alice.

"Ah, yes; he is the great librarian. . . ."

--Anthony Trollope, Can You Forgive Her?

4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful quote, and how true these days!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Trollope so often strikes a chord, doesn't he. I loved his autobiography, despite a general distrust of life writing as a genre.

    I wanted to let you know that I've tagged you for the "One Lovely Blog" award. You can grab the award image from my post at myshelfrunnethover.blogspot.com

    Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:07 PM

    Oooohh--
    I must get this. I "read" my first Trollope last year--listened to "The Way We Live Now" on tape--and ate it up with a spoon. Thanks for this reminder about him!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really have to get around to reading Trollope.

    Love the new banner by the way :)

    ReplyDelete

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