Starting Point

We start with Thomas Jefferson, the fellow who wrote that ditty that starts, "We hold these truths to be self-evident," who also said, "I cannot live without books." You can make up your own mind, but I say that the latter is more profound.

Consider a man named Logan Pearsall Smith who wrote, "People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading."

We finish with Billy Faulkner who famously said, "The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies."

The reader must be ruthless in the same way to get his reading done. Being able to read To Kill a Mockingbird is worth any number of old men.

Now you know how I feel.