RobAroundBooks

...ahhh for the love of words

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Rob's literary journey

Every book is a journey: Rob’s ‘reviewing system’ explained

Hopefully, one of the first things that you'll notice when you visit RobAroundBooks is that it's a little different to anything else that may already be out there in Internet land. And one of the … [Read More...]

Kapitoil and Garnett

Reading Journal: Friday 10th September 2010

You know, even though I’ve dived back into full-time lit blogging (and I’ve never been happier having done so) I thought about leaving out this online reading journal feature until I could come up … [Read More...]

journal1stjune

Reading Journal: Tuesday 1st June 2010

And so fellow reader we hit June, beautiful June. It's the beginning of a new month and to some small degree the door has started opening for summer. We're not quite there yet of course, but Tuesday's … [Read More...]

journal31stmay

Reading Journal: Monday 31st May 2010

Well folks it's been a few days since I updated my reading journal I know. The thing is midweek last week, I just felt that low, depressing what's the point mood coming on and I had to nip it in the … [Read More...]

journal25thmay

Reading Journal: Tuesday 25th May 2010

While I'm managing perfectly to keep up with my shorter reading assignments, I'm having a real hard time tackling my bigger ones. Again I was determined to dive back into my Independent Foreign … [Read More...]

journal24thmay

Reading Journal: Monday 24th May 2010

Well dear reader I really must apologise for my tail off in posts towards the latter half of last week. With my stomach giving me some serious digestive problems I really lost most of my motivation … [Read More...]

If you've followed RobAroundBooks for long enough then you'll know I always use the analogy that every book is a journey. There's a starting point and there's a finishing point, and in between is the 'voyage' itself. I like to think of my reading journal as a written account of that voyage; a shared intimate record of everything I read.

Rob’s Commonplace Sidebar

Here dear reader is the place where I shall store literary miscellany i.e. those extracts, passages and quotes etc. which have taken my fancy whilst reading. You may think of it I suppose, as a digital version of my commonplace book.

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For lonely people, rain is a chance to be touched - Simon Van Booy.

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In her book, Howard's End is on the Landing, Susan Hill states that 'a book which is left on the shelf is a dead thing but also a chrysalis, an inanimate object packed with the potential to bust into life.' What a wonderful way to look at it. Reminds of a similar thing that Alberto Manguel said in his book, A Reading Diary - 'This morning I looked at the books on my shelves and thought that they have no knowledge of my existence. They come to life because I open them and turn their pages, and yet they don't know that I am their reader.'

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