As Vivid a Memory

 "I say each thing that we see again, because books in this respect behave as things; the way a book opened along the spine, the texture of the paper, may have retained within it as vivid a memory of the way I imagined Venice then, as of my wish to go there, as the book's actual sentences."

Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time (Finding Time Again)

And this is why we're having so much trouble culling out the books, it's not simply the books, but also the actual feel of the books themselves. Yes, with my new Kindle I can download many of the books I'm interested in reading/rereading, but it never is the same thing. Plus, as Proust is pointing out here, it's not simply the sentences, but the tangibility and feel of the book. Every time I reread The Chess Garden I find myself holding it to my chest and fighting back (or happily giving way to) tears. In that same vein, it's not simply the memory itself, but everything that provides a tangible connection to the memory. Every time I see The Chess Garden, complete - well, incomplete, actually - with the separated title page, I'm brought back to the joy that the book gives me without even turning the pages.