What is a book to you, metaphorically speaking?
Others have weighed in on the subject, as evidenced by the following six quotes:
1. "Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life." --Jesse Lee Bennett
2. "Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time." --E.P. Whipple
3. "A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors." --Henry Ward Beecher
4. "Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind."--James Russell Lowell
5. "Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." --Charles W. Eliot
6. "Books are a uniquely portable magic." --Stephen King
Six quotes turn into fifteen metaphors: compass, telescope, sextant, chart, lighthouse, garden, orchard, storehouse, party, company, counselor, bee, friend, teacher, magic.
But we don't have to stop there. We're writers--how about making up a few of our own?
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| Photos courtesy of sxc.hu |
Would love to hear your ideas. How would you describe a book, metaphorically speaking?
Like all the descriptions especially the Stephen King one.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachna :-) I like that one, too...
ReplyDeleteInteresting challenge. I've been thinking about it for a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteFor a reader, I think a book is a kind of hideaway, a place where I can get away from everything for a while. For a writer, a book is more than that. I can't just GO to that hideaway, I have to CREATE it first.
I like metaphors. I expect I'll think some more about this one. :)
For me a book is like a portal to another world, traveling through time or space or both. But I loved James Russell Lowell's metaphor.
ReplyDelete"Hideaway" and "portal"--two more great metaphors for books :-) Thanks, Peggy and Elizabeth. The list grows!
ReplyDeleteI love this post!!! Books are so many things to me - my first reaction is to pick friend or magic. Oh, I just thought of a good metaphor - a portal! Love these quotes. I'm tweeting this...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Margo!
ReplyDeleteI am clueless.
ReplyDeleteFor certain pieces of literature, novels can be a like an abstract piece of art. Everyone can have their own interpretation of what it is to be learned from it, or what the author was trying to capture.
ReplyDeleteFor me a good book is a transportation to a world filled with secrets that are not being let out at once but piece by piece. That's just makes me desire for more of the book. Makes me continue reading
ReplyDeleteReally love the Stephen King one
ReplyDeleteA book is a portal into another being's mind, to be used by those whose own lives seem dull and in need of some mischief.
ReplyDeletea book is a hide-and-seek, a game played by writer and reader
ReplyDeletei like the book is a ticket
ReplyDeleteA book is a door waiting for us open, lay on spread on the sill before us, and as the scarcely perceptible wind fluttered its leaves at intervals--when we open it, we step into a new room that's a mighty stranger and things we perceive are beyond what our eyes can envisage.
ReplyDeleteEjlw
ReplyDeleteFor me a good book is a transportation to a world filled with secrets that are not being let out at once but piece by piece. That's just makes me desire for more of the book. Makes me continue reading
ReplyDeleteFor certain pieces of literature, novels can be a like an abstract piece of art. Everyone can have their own interpretation of what it is to be learned from it, or what the author was trying to capture.
ReplyDelete