This is so short that i read it twice. But its length is not the point of the book, it should be considered as an expresso, a distillation of a longer tome into something that you can consume in a moment.

Barnes writes here of his love of the printed book, from the discovery of books on his parents and grandparents shelves to the joy of discovering a first edition.

It is his account of an affair that he has had all his life, he has resisted the temptation of the svelte, young ereader, and long may he do so. ( )

A short essay (27 pages) that describes Julian Barnes' first encounters with books, leading to obsessive book-collecting and time spent searching second-hand bookshops as he is a completist. It finishes with Julian Barnes telling us of his continuing attachment to physical books and physical bookshops, and his view that bookshops will have to learn to earn their keep. He also comments that books will have to become more desirable: not luxury goods but well designed, attractive and remember in later years that this was the edition in which we first encountered what lay inside.
This resonates very strongly for me, as I do remember the covers of many of the significant (to me) books I have read. And don't tell my wife, but if this is the case then I nearly always need to retain the original books when I buy better editions (usually beautiful Folio Society editions). ( )