“Even if Mina left a book sitting open on the table in the sunroom, Yoneda-san would never presume to move it or put away. Beyond the page lay an unknown world, and the open book was a portal to that world that should not be thoughtlessly disturbed, lest Mina be unable to find her way back. Or so Yoneda-san believed. In the house at Ashiya, books were considered more precious than any sculpture or piece of pottery.” ReadingImaginationBooksNeatnessWorldsPortalsTidiness Book:Mina's Matchbox Source: Mina's Matchbox
“The books that lined the walls from floor to ceiling sat there quietly, never calling out for attention or advertising themselves with gaudy covers. But even if they appeared to be nothing more than unadorned paper boxes from the outside, they exuded a beauty equal to anything created by a sculptor or potter. Even though the meaning of the words printed on their pages was so profound it could never have been contained by those boxes, the books never let on to their depths. They waited patiently until someone picked them up and opened their covers.” ArtBeautyBooksPatienceMeaningProfundityPackagingDepths Book:Mina's Matchbox Source: Mina's Matchbox
“But with so many books in the house, do you still need to go borrow them from somewhere else?” “Are you serious?” Mina’s eyes widened with surprise. “When there are so many books in the world that you could never even read them all?” ReadingBooksBorrowingLibrariesVoraciousness Book:Mina's Matchbox Source: Mina's Matchbox
“I remember hearing a saying long ago: 'Men who start by burning books end by burning other men,' " I said.” BooksSatireBurning Books Author:Yōko Ogawa