Even though I firmly agree "there are so many books" and "so little time" I can't help but revisit favorites from years past on a regular basis. Recently I've been back in the world of The Belgariad and The Malloreon. While these books are not considered Fine Literature, the world building done by David and Leigh Eddings was well done and the characters are quickly and competently drawn. While most of my adult friends will only admit to "having liked it back when I was young" and "this is a good entry for young teens to the genre" even they tend to agree that they enjoyed watching the characters move along this story. (They also admit that yes they did read all ten books in the original series PLUS the additional ones that came after about the world.)
I don't bring this up only to talk about the characters and world building though. A certain passage caught my eye this time around that I had to laugh about. This one comes from King of the Murgos, book two of The Malloreon. Belgariad and Garion end up in a library looking for a piece of information and Belgarath compliments the librarian, Master Jeebers.
"I'll have to admit that he's a very competent scholar." "Isn't he just a librarian?" Garion asked, "somebody who looks after books?" "That's where all the rest of scholarship starts, Garion. All the books in the world won't help you if they're just piled up in a heap."
In a world in which we don't know where books are going or what the landscape will look like when we get there, I do know these two things: All the information available in the world will do no good if we don't know how to use it. and There will always be a place for storytelling in our lives.
So I shall continue to re-read favorites from years past . . . while finding new treasures as well.
