Books can be untamed streams of cerebral bliss, comfort for the soul, windows to unconquered worlds, faithful friends, keepers of knowledge, time machines, or an escape from the tedium of daily existence. The only thing better than reading a book you love, is having the book read to you by someone you love.

We adore books, not only for the thoughts they contain, but for the thoughts we compose when we immerse our minds in them. Finding a book to amuse is sometimes not enough. Delving into the minds of the greatest authors of our time and then reviewing their works, can be a very satisfying journey...and I have only just begun.

How does one tame the desire to prowl in libraries and online stores for that perfect book. How do you stop the quickening of your heart as you feel your feet following your desire, straight into the book ambush.

That trap of books that so entices, it makes you dizzy with the perfume of the soul and the voices of authors calling to you from the shelves. Surrounded by living books, you only wonder how many you can carry out of the store and not feel the least bit guilty for the pleasure. The only question is will you find the book or will the book find you and jump from the shelves into your hands?

The sensual experience of owning books and actually reading them takes you above the level of a bibliophile. When you reach the point in your life where you need a good read to survive in life, you enter a world somewhere between the existence of a bibliophile and hell. When you start to believe in books that write themselves and find you so you can breathe, then you are in serious danger of book addiction.

In the pages of Speaking of Books, you will meet your reading soul mates and lose or find yourself in their minds. To decide if you should buy this book, ask yourself:

Do I secretly wish I lived in a library and never had to leave?
Are books some of my most cherished possessions?
Am I an official member of Amazon Addicts Anonymous?
Have I ever fallen in love with the mind of an author?
Do I find myself asking people what they have read or advising them
on what they should be reading?
Am I in sheer torment at the thought of the unread book?
Do I need a good laugh? Because some of these quotes are quite funny!

Once you have identified yourself as an official book lover, you may want to add this book to your collection. Not only will you relate to most of the quotes, you will enjoy reading the introduction to each chapter. I was simply possessed by this book and read it cover to cover in a few hours.

The Index of Authors is also very useful for finding your favorite quotes. It is likely you will find a quote that suits you exactly.

Sir Thomas Phillips, in Portrait of an Obsession by A. N. L Munby (1967) about sums up how I feel. "I wish to have one copy of every book in the world." Now, is that too much to ask for?

If the very thought of communication with a finer mind excites your very being and you imagine what pleasure it will be to steal away to bed with a book for three hours of uninterrupted intoxication, then you will especially enjoy this escape to book heaven.