Se as nossas janelas fossem Windows / If our windows were Windows

A bela leitora de Gabrielle Bakker / Woman with book by Gabrielle Bakker

Gabrielle Bakker

A leitora de Charles Lenoir / Woman reading by Charles Lenoir

Charles Lenoir (1860-1926)

8 Citações sobre livros / 8 Quotes about books

“Books may not change our suffering, books may not protect us from evil, books may not tell us what is good or what is beautiful, and they will certainly not shield us from the common fate of the grave. But books grant us myriad possibilities: the possibility of change, the possibility of illumination.”

Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night “Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.” Alberto Manguel, A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader’s Reflections on a Year of Books “She loved to read and did so quite uncritically, taking each book as a prescription of sorts, an argument for a certain kind of life.”  Jennifer Egan, Invisible Circus “In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.” Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life “In its silence, a book is a challenge: it can’t lull you with surging music or deafen you with screeching laugh tracks or fire gunshots in your living room; you have to listen to it in your head. A book won’t move your eyes for you the way images on a screen do. It won’t move your mind unless you give it your mind, or your heart unless you put your heart in it. It won’t do the work for you. To read a story well is to follow it, to act it, to feel it, to become it—everything short of writing it, in fact. Reading is not “interactive” with a set of rules or options, as games are; reading is actual collaboration with the writer’s mind. No wonder not everybody is up to it.” Ursula K. Le Guin, Harper’s Magazine  <><> <><> <><> “Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life.” Jesse Lee Bennet (Os livros enquanto bússulas que nos orientam pela vida) “Nothing can do what a book can do. Lifts you out of your life… to a whole new world, whole new perspective. A book is like a dream you’re borrowing from a friend.” Dave Kellett “Few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning.” Virginia Woolf   <><> <><>

José Saramago pelo traço de Pedro Matos / Saramago by Pedro Matos

Pedro Matos

Artista português a viver em Londres.

O céu / Heaven

“I am no theologian. I would not be surprised, however, if Heaven proved to be a cozy kitchen, where delicious treats appeared in the oven and in the refrigerator whenever you wanted them, and where the cupboards were full of good books.”

Dean Koontz, Odd Hours

A leitora de Jean Marc Nattier / A woman reading by Jean Marc Nattier

Jean Marc Nattier  (1685 - 1766)

A pontuação é poderooosa! / Punctuation is powerful

4 citações sobre bibliotecas e bibliotecários / 4 quotes about libraries and librarians

“Books everywhere! Each wall was armed with overcrowded yet immaculate shelving. It was barely possible to see paintwork. There were all different styles and sizes of lettering on the spines of the black, the red, the gray, the every-colored books. It was one of the most beautiful things Liesel Meminger had ever seen.
With wonder, she smiled. That such a room existed!”

Markus Zusak, The Book Thief "The library is not only a diary of the human race, but marks an act of faith in the continuity of humanity.” Vartan Gregorian “It took a bit of popcorn and a library snack bar to make me realize that being a librarian was about more than just giving people information. It was about serving a community. And if the community is hungry for more than just knowledge, then maybe it’s about time to open a snack bar.”   Scott Douglas "Rule number one: Don’t fuck with librarians.” Neil Gaiman :)

Sem fios: inconvenientes da tecnologia wireless / Wireless technology

Palavras recicladas / Reusing Words

Les mots qu'on ne dit pas, Lisa G.

Reusing Words

Don’t think you know everything,
Father said, just because you’re good
with words. They aren’t everything.
I try to say the smallest amount possible.
Instead of using them indiscriminately
I try to conserve them. I’m the only one
in this household who recycles them. I
say the same thing over & over again,
like “Who forgot to turn out the lights?
Who forgot to clean up after themselves
in the bathroom?” Since you don’t listen
I never have to think of other things to say.

Hal Sirowitz

Melody Gardot - "Your Heart Is As Black As Night"

Livros de companhia / Books for company

“Books can be possessive, can’t they? You’re walking around in a bookstore and a certain one will jump out at you, like it had moved there on its own, just to get your attention. Sometimes what’s inside will change your life, but sometimes you don’t even have to read it. Sometimes it’s a comfort just to have a book around. Many of these books haven’t even had their spines cracked. ‘Why do you buy books you don’t even read?’ our daughter asks us. That’s like asking someone who lives alone why they bought a cat. For company, of course.”

Sarah Addison Allen

Melody Gardot - "Lover Undercover"