Book Quote by Susan Hill
““I go downstairs and the books blink at me from the shelves. Or stare. In a trick of the light, a row of them seems to shift very slightly, like a curtain blown by the breeze through an open window. Red is next to blue is next to cream is adjacent to beige. But when I look again, cream is next to green is next to black. A tall book shelters a small book, a huge Folio bullies a cowering line of Quartos. A child's nursery rhyme book does not have the language in which to speak to a Latin dictionary. Chaucer does not know the words in which Henry James communicates but here they are forced to live together, forever speechless.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: Reflections on books and memory, 1998
Books coexist in a chaotic, color‑coded universe, each holding distinct voices yet forced together
In simple terms: Books are diverse and sometimes discordant but share space
Key Takeaway
Embrace the richness of varied literature despite contradictions
Themes
literature
memory
perception
Mood
reflective
melancholic
Type
literary
analytical
When to use this quote
- library organization
- reading strategies
- educational curricula
- curatorial displays
Key Concepts
intertextuality
visual metaphor
cognitive dissonance
Questions to Reflect On
- How does juxtaposing disparate texts affect understanding?
- What can we learn from the visual chaos of books?
A Different Perspective
The metaphor may oversimplify complex literary relationships
![“[A novel by Henry James] is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on the high altar. And on the altar, very reverently place, intensely there, is a dead kitten, an egg-shell, a bit of string.” quote by H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/699/h-g-wells-1122_altars_a-novel-by-henry-james-is-like-a-church_158550.jpg)
![“The thing [Henry James'] novel is about is always there. It is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on the high altar. And on the altar, very reverently placed, intensely there, is a dead kitten, an egg-shell, a bit of string.” quote by H.G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/19f/h-g-wells-2-1299_books_the-thing-henry-james-novel-is-about-is_138893.jpg)
