All books are doors; and some of them are wardrobes.
Interpretation
Books provide opportunities to explore new worlds and ideas.
The quote by Susanna Clarke suggests that books serve as gateways to different realities and experiences, much like the metaphorical doors and wardrobes that lead to other realms in fantasy literature. This highlights the transformative power of reading, where each book can unlock the imagination and take readers on a journey beyond their everyday lives.
In practice
During a book club meeting, this quote can be used to inspire a discussion on the impact of literature.
But when the fairy sang the whole world listened to him. Stephen felt clouds pause in their passing; he felt sleeping hills shift and murmur; he felt cold mists dance. He understood for the first time that the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands. In the fairyβs song the earth recognized the names by which it called itself.
It is these black clothes," said Strange. "I am like a leftover piece of funeral, condemned to walk about the Town, frightening people into thinking of their own mortality.
She doesn't do the things heroines are supposed to. Which is rather Jane Austen's point - Fanny is her subversive heroine. She is gentle and self-doubting and utterly feminine; and given the right circumstances, she would defy an army.
Houses, like people, are apt to become rather eccentric if left too much on their own; this house was the architectural equivalent of an old gentleman in a worn dressing-gown and torn slippers, who got up and went to bed at odd times of day, and who kept up a continual conversation with friends no one else could see.
I could always imagine more interesting places to be than where I was. And more interesting people than me being there. Eventually, this led to making up stories and writing things down.
In a sense, the better you adapt to school the less your chances are of later adapting to the actual world. So I figure, the worse you adapt to school, the better you will be able to handle reality when you finally manage to get loose at last from school, if that ever happens. But I guess I have what in the military they call a 'poor attitude,' which means 'shape up or ship out.' I always elected to ship out.
I believe that if we want our children to understand the world beyond their classroom, we must bring the world into their classroom.
To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.
I was inspired by the Hole in the Wall project, where a computer with an internet connection was put in a Delhi slum. When the slum was revisited after a month, the children of that slum had learned how to use the worldwide web.
I always believed you could learn something from nearly everybody you meet, if you're open to it.
A mother is a school. Empower her; and you empower a great nation.
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