That wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book
I haven't posted about the threatened library closures here, partly because several on my f'list have covered the subject eloquently & partly for the selfish reason that our local library isn't threatened (yet) while our local forest is. But I couldn't resist linking the text of Philip Pullman's recent defence of the library (via azalaisdep). Worth reading in full even if you've already read the extracts printed in the Guardian...
No-one else can get in the way, no-one else can invade it, no-one else even knows what’s going on in that wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book. That open democratic space full of thrills, full of excitement and fear, full of astonishment, where your own emotions and ideas are given back to you clarified, magnified, purified, valued.
No-one else can get in the way, no-one else can invade it, no-one else even knows what’s going on in that wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book. That open democratic space full of thrills, full of excitement and fear, full of astonishment, where your own emotions and ideas are given back to you clarified, magnified, purified, valued.