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Pickle Me This

October 14, 2010

Fervent Guardians

“Those of us who read and say we want to spread the love of reading, much of the time we’d rather be commentators, interpreters, analysts, critics, biographers, exegetes of works silenced by our pious respect for their greatness. Imprisoned in the fortress of our expertise, the language of books is replaced by our own language. Instead of letting the intelligence of stories speak for us, we turn to our own intelligence and talk for the stories. We have stopped being the messengers of literature, and turned into the fervent guardians of a temple whose miracles we praise with the very words that close its doors. You must read! You must read!“– Daniel Pennac, Better Than Life: Secrets of Reading

5 thoughts on “Fervent Guardians”

  1. patricia says:

    Kerry, is that the book you were mentioning last night at the VC?

    1. Kerry says:

      Yes! I am enjoying it.

  2. Alyssa says:

    I loved Better Than Life when I read it 11 years ago. I must take it off my shelf again to reread!

    I was introduced to conkers from your post of things Harriet carries in her bag and I just heard an interview with this year’s conker champion from the UK. Felt very in-the-know.

    1. Kerry says:

      Alyssa, we’ve had to ease back on the conkers as Harriet insisted on sucking on them and they are distinctly verging on choking hazard territory. So tragic– she might have missed her chance to be champion!

  3. patricia says:

    Conkers! I’ve just been reading about conkers. Roald Dahl was a champion conker in his youth!

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