I don't know about you, but I love me a good quote.  Funny?  Inspiring?  Beautifully crafted?  Astute?  I'll take them all.  When I come across passages I love in a book I'm reading, I usually just sigh over their awesomeness rather than actually writing them down because I'm just lazy like that.  So, when it comes to TTT topics like today's—Top Ten Book Quotes That Fit X Theme—I have to rely a lot on Google.  The ones I do tend to write down have to do with books and reading, because, books.  What more do I need to say?  Naturally, then, I decided to feature those today.  Oh, and apparently, I really like book quotes because I posted a very similar TTT list to this one back in September.  

If you want to join in the TTT fun, click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

Top Ten Book Quotes About Books and Reading 

"After my bedroom, this [the library] was my favorite place in the world.  It was carpeted, and had heavy bookcases and ticking clocks and velvet chairs, just like someone's living room.  It smelled of unturned pages and unseen adventures, and on every shelf were people I had yet to meet, and places I had yet to visit.  Each time, I lost myself in the corridors of books and the polished, wooden rooms, deciding which journey to go on next."

---from The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

"One of my strongest held beliefs is that no one should ever finish a book that they're not enjoying, no matter how popular or well reviewed the book is.  Believe me, nobody is going to get any points in heaven by slogging their way through a book they aren't enjoying but think they ought to read."

---from Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

"Storytelling was the most honored of all talents, for it benefitted everyone."

---from The Host by Stephenie Meyer

"When in doubt, go to the library."

---from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

"They had only ever discussed books but what, in this life, is more personal than books?"

---from The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

"...bookshops are magic, and books are the road maps by which misfits find each other."

---from The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read.  One does not love breathing."

---from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

"Take some books and read; that's an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort."

---from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

---from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

---from Coraline by Neil Gaiman

There you go, ten quotes about books and reading that I happen to love.  Which is your favorite?  What other quotes do you adore that fit this topic?  I'd love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will return the favor on your blog.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

The vicar promised his community that if they found God, no one would be lost.  So, why is Margaret Creasey missing?  Where has the friendly, well-liked woman gone?  Grace Bennett and Tilly Albert, both ten, are concerned with Mrs. Creasey's sudden disappearance.  If they find God, like the vicar instructed, will they also find Margaret?  The girls embark on a quest to locate both.  

As Grace and Tilly visit all the houses on their street, they learn a great deal about the people who inhabit them.  All of them—it seems—harbor secrets, secrets they shared with Mrs. Creasey.  Has the woman disappeared because of something she knew?  Everyone thinks creepy Walter Bishop killed her.  Did he?  Or is someone else to blame?  As a relentless summer heat wave turns ordinary people into cantankerous monsters, Grace and Tilly are determined to solve a very puzzling mystery.  

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a debut novel by English psychiatrist Joanna Cannon, is a funny, moving novel about hypocrisy, judgment and perception vs. reality.  Sharp, but nuanced, it's a thoughtful story that will leave readers examining their own lives for the contradictions that lurk within us all.  The fact that it's narrated by children makes the tale even more poignant.  I picked up The Trouble with Goats and Sheep on a whim and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  I'll definitely be keeping an eye this author—I can't wait to see what she does next! 

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a bit of Whistling in the Dark and Good Graces by Lesley Kagen)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder expletives) and violence

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find