"When the Irish novelist John McGahern was a child, his sisters unlaced and removed one of his shoes while he was reading."
From the Preface to Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman.
"A few months ago, my husband and I decided to mix our books together."
From "Marrying Libraries," the first essay in Ex Libris.
I love the opening to the Preface because I remember reading like that, especially when I was a kid. I could be so engrossed in a book that I was oblivious to anything around me.
And the "marrying libraries" idea had me laughing. My husband and I have been married now for nigh on 10 years, and our books only started co-habitating when we moved to our present house a year ago. They are still not fully integrated.
NOTE
Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners.
