The Book of the City of Ladies
“By chance a strange volume came into my hands, not one of my own, but one which had been given to me along with some others.”
It’s so interesting to learn that books served a sort of social function during the Renaissance the same way they do today. That’s one of my favorite parts of reading – passing a book along to friends and hearing their thoughts, maybe they add some scrawled notes or dog-ears to it. Not only does that add a cool layer of history to the book itself, but I also think the act of giving someone a book you read because you genuinely think they would enjoy it is a true gesture of friendship. I haven’t been able to make the transition from physical books to Kindle in part because ebooks lack that aspect of shareability that I love so much.