Kindred Souls

I loved reading "Unpacking My Library: A Talk About Book Collecting".  It was nice to read something so conversational, especially after reading Southey.  Benjamin writes with a kind of fervor and passion that swept me up into his excitement.  I love finding a good book, but the kind of skill and drive he talks about blows me out of the water.  I never realized it was such an intense and involved process.  My kind of book collecting is similar to what he talks about on page 63 when he says that "I have made my most memorable purchases on trips".  I think my favorite purchase was a ragged, dog-eared copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" from a resale corner shop in Seattle.  This building was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, wrapped in ivy with heavy wooden doors.  I fully agree that the story of acquisition is key, but I don't think it necesarily has to be a one of a kind book for it to have meaning. I'm attached to every copy of a book that I have, and I experience the same kind of emotions that Benjamin does, just at a lower cost.   Also, after writing this entry I decided to try and find a photo of the bookshop, and although I don't have any photos of the shop I do have one from my trip (I was 16 and thought big sunglasses and silly faces were cool-leave me alone) after I spent the day on the beach reading the book.