Top 9 Quotes by Nancy Pearl

The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?

The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?

Nancy Pearl

Superhero, Roles, World

"An action figure for the books" by Devin Rose, articles.chicagotribune.com. August 3, 2003.

I have for a long time felt that our society is becoming more and more fractured and divisive and that you could go a whole day without really talking to another person. If you give people a good book to talk about, you can build a community out of a diverse group. A common language grows out of it.

Nancy Pearl

Book, Talking, Long

If you're 50 years old or younger, give every book about 50 pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up. If you're over 50, which is when time gets shorter, subtract your age from 100 - the result is the number of pages you should read before deciding whether or not to quit. If you're 100 or over you get to judge the book by its cover, despite the dangers in doing so.

Nancy Pearl

Book, Reading, Years

Whenever I begin reading a new book, I am embarking on a new, uncharted journey with an unmarked destination. I never know where a particular book will take me, toward what other books I will be led.

Nancy Pearl

Book, Reading, Journey

Nancy Pearl (2009). “Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason”, p.11, Sasquatch Books

No one should ever finish a book they're not enjoying, no matter how popular or well reviewed the book is.

Nancy Pearl

Book, Matter, Should

Nancy Pearl (2009). “More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason”, p.12, Sasquatch Books

I just said, 'Well, the real people performing miracles every day are librarians,' and we all laughed ourselves off our chairs.

Nancy Pearl

Real, People, Miracle

When we want a book exactly like the one we just finished reading, what we really want is to recreate that pleasurable experience--the headlong rush to the last page, the falling into a character's life, the deeper understanding we've gotten of a place or a time, or the feeling of reading words that are put together in a way that causes us to look at the world differently. We need to start thinking about what it is about a book that draws us in, rather than what the book is about.

Nancy Pearl

Book, Fall, Reading

Reading has always brought me pure joy. I read to encounter new worlds and new ways of looking at the world. I read to enlarge my horizons, to gain wisdom, to experience beauty, to understand myself better, and for the pure wonderment of it all. I read and marvel over how writers use language in ways I never thought of. I read for company, and for escape. Because I am incurably interested in the lives of other people, both friends and strangers, I read to meet myriad folks and enter their lives- for me, a way of vanquishing the “otherness” we all experience.

Nancy Pearl

Reading, People, Joy

Nancy Pearl (2009). “Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason”, p.9, Sasquatch Books