Sunday, March 3, 2013

Between the Shoulder Blades



“Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite certainly the highest form of emotion that humanity has attained when evolving pure art and pure science. Let us worship the spine and its tingle.”
― Vladimir Nabokov



This is the quote from which I’ve taken the title of this blog because I think it perfectly conveys the way I experience the books that I love to read. I feel the telltale tingle when I read Nabokov’s Transparent Things or Bend Sinister or when I read Bruno Schulz's The Street of Crocodiles (a current read that gives more chills than tingles). I also like the double meaning that the last line of this quote suggests; it implies both the telltale tingle of one’s spine when encountering great books and art and the spine of a book itself--the eye candy that catches one’s attention on those musty bookshelves in libraries and bookstores, inviting us in to explore vast worlds, previously unknown.

I spend most of my time reading and rereading books, adding books to my to-read list, searching for more books to read, and organizing, researching, cataloging, etc. These are my main hobbies. Sometimes I get the urge to actually sit down and discuss what I’m reading or write a review of the book I’ve just read but I’m not always consistent about it. For this reason, this is going to be an occasional blog—or maybe a more-than-occasional blog, depending on the time available to me and the necessary words. Sometimes I’ll post book reviews. Sometimes I’ll post quotes. Or art and illustrations. Or random library and information science news. Or information about whatever topic I’m currently researching. Please feel free to chime in with your own thoughts and recommendations. 

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