I once read an essay that had a neat idea — that there are two types of book lovers: courtly lovers and… another kind that I forget what they called.  But!

Both kinds of book lovers adore books, obviously, but they go about it in different ways.

Courtly book lovers adore their books’ forms.  They’ll buy a particular edition because it’s pretty, and they’ll go to great lengths to make sure the book remains pristine.

The other kind of book lovers love their books’ essence.  They’ll embrace the spirit of a book (its story), but they don’t particularly care about its form — one example the essay’s author gave was of someone who ripped chunks of pages out of a book and threw them away as he read it in order to save luggage space.

Isn’t that a neat idea?  Usually courtly book lovers will look down on the other kind of book lover, but since both kinds really do love reading, they’re equal, don’t you think?  🙂