"I am a reader not because I don't have a life but because I choose to have many." --Anonymous
“When I get a little money, I buy books. If any is left, I buy food and clothes.” — Erasmus
“Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” — Joyce Carol Oates
“You should never read just for “enjoyment.” Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends’ insane behavior, or better yet, your own. Pick “hard books.” Ones you have to concentrate on while reading. And for god’s sake, don’t let me ever hear you say, “I can’t read fiction. I only have time for the truth.” Fiction is the truth, fool! Ever hear of “literature”? That means fiction, too, stupid.” — John Waters
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” – Ernest Hemingway
“What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” — Anne Lamott
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” — Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler)
“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” — Henry David Thoreau
“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” — Madeleine L’Engle
“We read to know that we are not alone.” — C.S. Lewis
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” — Oscar Wilde
“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” — Malcolm X
“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” — Confucius
“Reading brings us unknown friends.” — Honoré de Balzac
I took a Young Adult Literature class this summer at URI and I read these 20 books for the class. What have you read lately? What are you planning to read? You can create you own Shelfari list of the books you've read or would like to read by clicking on the "Get Your Own Shelf" link below. You can share these books on social networking sites as well. Check out the books I read, maybe you'll find a title you'd like to read.