All I hope, selfishly, is that there will be real books until the day I draw my last breath.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep desire for the continued existence of real books throughout one's life.
In this quote, Jane Hamilton conveys her passionate hope that physical books will persist in the world until her death. This reflects not only her love for literature but also the belief in the irreplaceable value of real books as sources of knowledge, connection, and imagination in an increasingly digital age. It reveals an emotional attachment to the tactile experience of reading and suggests that books serve as enduring companions in life's journey.
In practice
In a book club discussion about the impact of digital media on reading habits.
From early on I valued the gift of memory above all others. I understood that as we grow older we carry a whole nation around inside of us, places and ways that have disappeared, believing that they are ours, that we alone hold the torch for our past, that we are as impenetrable as stone.
I had forgotten what it was like, to be drawn to a person...I'd forgotten how your blood flows toward a person when they move, so that all at once you know what the pull of gravity feels like. and you know that this is something strong and important, something that you need for life, this woman moving through the room.
...you have to learn where your pain is. You have to burrow down and find the wound, and if the burden of it is too terrible to shoulder, you have to shout it out; you have to shout for help... And then finally, the way through grief is grieving.
How many times... have you encountered the saying, 'When the student is ready, the Master speaks?' Do you know why that is true? The door opens inward. The Master is everywhere, but the student has to open his mind to hear the Masters Voice.
Over a long period of time, the main force in favor of greater equality has been the diffusion of knowledge and skills.
Humor is the oxygen of children's literature. There's a lot of competition for children's time, but even kids who hate to read want to read a funny book.
Children are not yet fools, but we shall turn them into imbeciles like ourselves, with high I.Q.'s if possible.
Over-coaching can be more harmful than under-coaching. Keep it simple!
To learn anything other than the stuff you find in books, you need to be able to experiment, to make mistakes, to accept feedback, and to try again. It doesn't matter whether you are learning to ride a bike or starting a new career, the cycle of experiment, feedback, and new experiment is always there.
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