A lovely quotation, and a few other things …

“Books are nourishment to me in a way that visual media, the Internet and I dare say e-book text can never really be. They carry more than words in their pages. They carry smell and memory; they live in their shapes and heft.”

From Helen Simonson’s wonderful essay Books are more than just text.

Please go and read it!

And I must thank Claire at The Captive Reader for the link.

Now to the other things. The picture of books from some of my favourite smaller presses is significant!

You many have spotted two Persephone Books – Making Conversation by Christine Longford and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. I’ll be giving both away during the upcoming Persephone Reading Week.

And I’m hoping to read the others before too long. Two have definite slots:

One Thousand and One Ghosts by Alexandre Dumas comes from the Hesperus Press, and it’s lined up for the Classics Circuit celebration of Paris in springtime. 

The Child by Jules Vallés lined up for the Spotlight Series celebration of NYRB Classics.

That’s three wonderful events that you really must not miss this May!