Quote it Sat

Quote it Sat is a Weekly Event
hosted by Leslie at That Chick that Reads.

The difference between a person who appreciates books, even loves them, and a collector is not only degrees of affection, I realized. For the former, the bookshelf is a kind of memoir: there are my childhood books, my college books, my favorite novels, my inexplicable choices. Many matchmaking and social networking websites offer a place for members to list what they're reading for just this reason: books can reveal a lot about a person. But for the collector, the bookshelf is a reflection not just of what he has read, but profoundly who he is: "Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they can come alive in him; it is he who comes alive in them," wrote cultural critic Walter Benjamin.

pg 64, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett