50 most inspiring quotes about books and reading

No two persons ever read the same book.

–Edmund Wilson

Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.

–Vera Nazarian

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page and closing the book.

–Josh Jameson

I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.

–Woodrow Wilson

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

–P.J. O’Rourke

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.

–Author Unknown

I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.

–Harold Kushner

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

–Haruki Murakami

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.

–Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.

–Maya Angelou

The book you don’t read won’t help.

–Jim Rohn

Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.

–John Green

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

–Gilbert K. Chesterton

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

–Gilbert K. Chesterton

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it or offer your own version in return.

–Salman Rushdie

In a good book the best is between the lines.

–Swedish Proverb

Are we not like two volumes of one book?

–Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

Keep reading books, but remember that a book is only a book, and you should learn to think for yourself.

–Maxim Gorky

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.

–Oscar Wilde

There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.

–Marcel Proust

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

–Oscar Wilde

Beware of the person of one book.

–Thomas Aquinas

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it.

–Edward P. Morgan

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

–Oscar Wilde

The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.

–W. Somerset Maugham

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

–Henry David Thoreau

Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.

–Angela Carter

There’s nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over.

–Gail Carson Levine

It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.

–C.S. Lewis

Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.

–George Bernard Shaw

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.

–Abraham Lincoln

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.

–C.S. Lewis

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

–Henry Ward Beecher

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.

–William Styron

One always has a better book in one’s mind than one can manage to get onto paper.

–Michael Cunningham

I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget.

–William Lyon Phelps

In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.

–Oscar Wilde

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

–Joseph Brodsky

What you don’t know would make a great book.

–Sydney Smith

You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.

–Paul Sweeney

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

–Jorge Luis Borges

Some books leave us free and some books make us free.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men do not understand books until they have a certain amount of life, or at any rate no man understands a deep book, until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents.

–Ezra Pound

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.

–Amos Bronson Alcott

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

–Frederick Douglas

Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.

–J.K. Rowling

A book is a device to ignite the imagination.

–Alan Bennett

It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read.

–Judy Blume

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.

–Toni Morrison

A good book has no ending.

–R.D. Cumming

Book market

I went to a book market and made some discoveries!  

The Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi 

A friend told me about this book, otherwise I would probably never have bought it. I don't really like books about religion, which I thought to be the subject of a book with a title like this. She told me that it handles about an Indian boy, Karim, who gets introduced in the theatre and punk world, by his father's English lover Eva. Karim begins a career as an actor and begins several love affairs. 

She was really convincing when she was talking about this book, because of the variety of themes. It handles about race relations, Karim has to deal with racism, for example his first role as an actor is in "Jungle Book", he can't get another part. But it also handles about a broken marriage (between his mother and father), class, sexual behavior, finding your identity... 

When I looked into the book I saw that it was full of dialogues. When I asked Justine whether she liked it or not, she told me that everything becomes more realistic because of the conversations. 

I did some research about this book and I found out that it has been translated into 20 languages and was also made into a four-part drama series by the BBC in 1993, with a soundtrack by David Bowie. By reading "The Buddha of Suburbia", you learn something about the English society at the time, so besides the recreational part, there's also an educational element, this is what makes the book unique.

For Whom The Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway

Another risky choice from the book market is "For Whom The Bell Tolls". This book handles about a boy who fights in the Spanish Civil War, as the seller told me. And if I may tell you a secret, a fact about mysel? I HATE history, especially the wars. I hate violence, especially on television or in literature, because it's way too theatrical most of the times. 

So, you may wonder why I've bought this book? Simply to push my own limits. If I have to tell other people a positive aspect of myself, I say that I'm open-minded, so I have to prove this trait, also in my book choices! 

The convincing salesgirl told me that this was a good book to start reading about wars and stuff, because there are enough story lines beside the Civil War, to keep paying attention. Themes such as death, humanity, and also romance are present. But why this book and not another book about another war? There is an oversupply of that kind of books. This book, because it's full of symbolics, there is a false bottom, a second meaning in so many things. So you can keep reading this book, without getting bored, there will always be something that you didn't notice the previous time.

Random fact: "For Whom The Bell Tolls" is also a song by Metallica, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg92QpjRcJk

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Last but not least: Life of Pi! This book tells the story of Pi, who survived a shipwreck and now has to handle with a large Bengal tiger, Richard Parker. His whole family died in the shipwreck, so Pi is all on his own.

This book is magic, everybody has to love it. The themes vary from the belief in God, the primacy of survival, freedom, science, to a strange but overwhelming sort of friendship. The book has two stories, the one with animals or the one that is believed to be "the true story", the one with humans.

We saw the movie in our "Filmforum" on school and I was very impressed, so I look forward to read this book!

I have been told that "Life of Pi" is stuffed with great ideas, inspiring thoughts and exciting situations. It's a nice book for someone who loves adventure, also the romantic souls will like it, but especially people who like thinking about what they read will be in love with this book. And if you are someone who likes all of these things, than I had to warn you, because you will probably get addicted. The book is multileveled, full of beautiful mysteries that might give your life sense. Amazing what books can do!

After my exams, I will definitely read these three books, but first: full focus on stuDYING. If you also have to study, good luck! If you don't, please read these books and tell me which one you like the most! 

Enjoy the weekend,  don't forget to enjoy every book you read, it's a dream that you hold in your hand!

Phaedra 

Good morning! 

Because I can only give you my own opinion about certain books, I have got an amazing website for you!

Here is the link:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

The site is full of top 100 lists, you can see the books who won an award, you can see a list per subject...

If you click on a book cover, you can find the overview, editorial reviews, product details, something more about the author, customer reviews etc.

And you can immediately order the book(s) that you want to read!

Have a nice day, 

Keep reading! 

Phaedra

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

Hey guys,

I have read The Lovely Bones from Alice Sebold. This review contains some plot details so *spoiler alert*!

The Lovely Bones handles about life and death, forgiveness and vengeance, heaven and earth, happiness and sadness, memory and forgetting.

This book tells a story about how a family has to handle the death of Susie, the oldest daughter of the family and also the narrator from this book. Yes, she tells the story from heaven, from the Inbetween (between heaven and earth). After the murder, Susie follows the lives from her family members, friends and even her murderer, watching from the Inbetween. Susie was raped and murdered by *spoiler* a serial killer, her own neighbour.

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. 

There are many people who might not like to book, because it's a little bit bizarre or even boring, because there isn't much action. But I still wanted to read it, because I was fascinated by the movie. So now you're probably wondering if my expectations got fulfilled? Yes and no are both a correct answer. 

I first saw the movie before I started reading the book, because I've heard that the book was rather complex. I'm happy that I did so, because indeed the book contained a lot of difficult words and there also were a lot of flashbacks, that were hard to follow. Because I had seen the movie first, the book was like a detailled version of the film. You understand the line of thoughts of the characters better, there are more story-lines etc. It's crazy to kill your narrator in the first pages of your book, especially if you even dare to tell this soon who the murderer is. It has to be so hard to keep the story exciting and interesting if the reader already knows everything from the start. But Alice Sebold has succeeded in this mission.

If you want to know if Susie's murderer will ever be arrested, if Susie will go to another place than the Inbetween, if her family will ever be able to go on with their lives... you will have to read the book! I promise you that it will be very interesting. I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog and don't forget to...

just keep reading, just keep reading, just keep reading reading reading... -Dory (Nemo)

lots of love, 

Phaedra