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Do you stroke the spines of books? Do you know that feeling of loneliness when you've finished a book? Do you choose your holiday reading weeks before you leave? Do you secretly scrutinise your host's library when you are invited to dinner? Do you hide your new acquisitions from your partner? And has it ever happened to you that you completely lost track of time when you were actually looking for a particular book, but then spent an afternoon rearranging the entire shelf? Daniel Gray counters the long-predicted death of the book: he has written not one, but 50 declarations of love - to reading, literature, the bookshop and the bookseller. The result is a collection of witty, touching essays about the joys and rituals of reading. A bibliophile collection of moments of happiness that every reader knows, a tribute to the wondrous and rich life with books, a plea for the preservation of the printed book.