So, I read this last night- on page 8 no less- and had to share it with you:

“Once, in my father’s bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.  Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later- no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget- we will return.  For me those enchanted pages will always be the once I found among the passageways of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.”

That is oh, so true, huh?

Maybe that is why book lovers get all nostalgic about their “first loves.”

My first first love was Matilda.  I cannot tell you how much I related to ol’  Matilda when my 3rd grade teacher gave me the book to read.  My parents were on the brink of divorce, my brothers were both insane and I was just this bookish kid in love with the library and my teacher That was the first time I learned more about my experience through seeing someone else live it out.  Since then that has happened more often, but when I read Matilda I distinctly remember feeling like FINALLY someone understood my situation.

Later in my life, I was “marked on” by a lot of other books, but the author is so right in saying that that first time will always be enchanting.

What is the first book that ever marked on you?

It knocked me off my feet.

Don’t go crazy, but I bent a (tiny!) corner over in a library book to mark it so I could come back, reread, and share with you guys.

It’s that good.

“posterity, n.

I try not to think about us growing old together, mostly because I try not to think about growing old at all.  Both things- the years passing, the years together- are too enormous to contemplate.  But one morning, I gave in.  You were asleep, and I imagined you older and older, your hair graying, your skin folded and creased, your breath catching.  And I found myself thinking: If this continues, if this goes on, then when I die, your memories of me will be my greatest accomplishment.  Your memories will be my most lasting impression.”

*sigh*

Read this book.  This is just one of the many quoteworthy parts.

My word.

” ‘There are books full of great writing that don’t have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story, Bobby.  Don’t be like the book-snobs who won’t do that.  Read sometimes for the words- the language.  Don’t be like the play-it-safers that won’t do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and a good words, treasure that book.’

‘Are there many of those, do you think?’ Bobby asked.

‘More than the book-snobs and play-it-safers think. Many more.’ ”

Good stuff, huh?

I was trying to think of, for me, books that have had both. Tough question.

Off the top of my head I thought of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Stand by Stephen King, and (of course) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Maybe there are more, but these are the ones that immediately came to mind.

What books, for you, have both?