Fantastic Metropolis

Intro · Likes · Rituals · Necessity
Examples · Memories · Bios

Paul Witcover

Good God, what kinds of weirdos are out there? Don’t tell me if you bite or smell books! I don’t want to know!

Gene Wolfe

My ritual with a new book is to open it carefully in the middle first, then a quarter of the way in, and then three-quarters. I was taught to do this at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary School, and I have never stopped. If the book is used—and I buy a lot of used books —I page through to see whether the previous owner left anything between the pages or made marginal notes. I love notes made in books and things found in books.

Tamar Yellin

I feel its weight, and flip through its pages to feel the weight and quality of the paper. The smell is also important. At some point—unable to help myself—I will check how many pages it has. This seems to answer some deep psychological need, like establishing how many miles there are to cover on a journey, whether or not it’s meant to be a journey of pleasure.

Zoran Živković

(a) I leaf through it to check if there are any blank pages. One of the most traumatic and heart-stopping experiences for me as a reader was to face a blank page on the most exciting spot. (b) I leaf through it to check if there are any bills between the pages, left there by a previous, careless reader.