Shelved rows of books warm and brighten the starkest room, and scattered single volumes reveal mental processes in progress — books in the act of consumption, abandoned but readily resumable, tomorrow or next year. By bedside and easy chair, books promise a cozy, swift, and silent release from this world into another, with no current involved but the free and scarcely detectable crackle of brain cells. For ease of access and storage, books are tough to beat.

John Updike (1932-2009) American writer

Essay (2000-06-18), “Books Unbound, Life Unraveled,” New York Times
    (Source)

Collected as "A Case for Books," Due Considerations: Essays and Considerations (2007).