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Thursday, December 10, 2020

Thursday Thoughts...

“Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose. I am the happy victim of books.” 

 Karl Lagerfeld

I have had this quote in the pile for yonks; and always scroll by it.  I think I react to the sense of drugs and overdose and don't really like associating books with what can be traumatic. Like an overdose.

Funny isn't it? But today I scrolled by and then thought 'no go back and see what it's saying'. Stop flinching.

Because I think what he is saying is really that books can be addictive; they can absorb you; they can call you; they can keep you from doing other things; yet you are not placed in dangerous situations because of them.  Books probably won't kill you.  

Perhaps the link to drugs was deliberate - to link to that feeling of escape, of being high, of indulging yourself or something like it. 

I am pretty sure he loves books, and enjoys being captivated by them.


From the Design Museum in Copenhagen, 2008.

2 comments:

  1. a very thought-provoking quote

    I rarely read fiction, but when I do start on a really compelling novel (the Overstory comes to mind), I get so caught up that I neglect all else, including eating and sleeping (and here I'm thinking of a Dan Brown novel that kept me up all night before a job interview ... only to be a huge disappointment when I got to the lame ending)

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    Replies
    1. That sense of being consumed by the work, to the detriment of all others is powerful and intriguing. Good books can definitely take you away from yourself...go well.

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