One Reason We Have Children

When The Irish Novelist John Mcgahern Was A Child, His Sisters Unlaced And Removed One Of His Shoes While He Was Reading. He Did Not Stir. They Placed A Straw Hat On His Head. No Response. Only When They Took Away The Wooden Chair On Which He Was Sitting Did He, As He Puts It, 'wake Out Of The Book'.

To Use An Electronics Analogy, Closing A Book On A Bookmark Is Like Pressing The Stop Button, Whereas When You Leave The Book Facedown, You've Only Pressed Pause.

One Reason We Have Children I Think Is To Learn That Parts Of Ourselves We Had Given Up For Dead Are Merely Dormant And That The Old Joys Can Re Emerge Fresh And New And In A Completely Different Form.

When I Visit A New Bookstore, I Demand Cleanliness, Computer Monitors, And Rigorous Alphabetization. When I Visit A Secondhand Bookstore, I Prefer Indifferent Housekeeping, Sleeping Cats, And Sufficient Organizational Chaos.

I Can Think Of Few Better Ways To Introduce A Child To Books Than To Let Her Stack Them, Upend Them, Rearrange Them, And Get Her Fingerprints All Over Them.