All I hope, selfishly, is that there will be real books until the day I draw my last breath.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep desire for the continued existence of real books throughout one's life.
In this quote, Jane Hamilton conveys her passionate hope that physical books will persist in the world until her death. This reflects not only her love for literature but also the belief in the irreplaceable value of real books as sources of knowledge, connection, and imagination in an increasingly digital age. It reveals an emotional attachment to the tactile experience of reading and suggests that books serve as enduring companions in life's journey.
In practice
In a book club discussion about the impact of digital media on reading habits.
From early on I valued the gift of memory above all others. I understood that as we grow older we carry a whole nation around inside of us, places and ways that have disappeared, believing that they are ours, that we alone hold the torch for our past, that we are as impenetrable as stone.
I had forgotten what it was like, to be drawn to a person...I'd forgotten how your blood flows toward a person when they move, so that all at once you know what the pull of gravity feels like. and you know that this is something strong and important, something that you need for life, this woman moving through the room.
...you have to learn where your pain is. You have to burrow down and find the wound, and if the burden of it is too terrible to shoulder, you have to shout it out; you have to shout for help... And then finally, the way through grief is grieving.
Chefs have a new opportunity - and perhaps even an obligation - to inform the public about what is good to eat, and why.
Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves.
Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his movements.
It's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written.
One has to grow up with good talk in order to form the habit of it.
Better guide the young than reclaim them when old For the voice of true wisdom is calling "To rescue the fallen is good, but tis best To prevent other people from falling" Better close up the source of temptation and crime Than deliver from dungeon or gallery Better put a strong fence round the top of the cliff Than an ambulance down in the valley.
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