coleridge on novels, circa 1811: "as to the devotees of the circulating libraries, i dare not compliment their pass-time or rather kill-time with the name of reading. call it rather a sort of beggardly day-dreaming, during which the mind of the dreamer furnishes for itself nothing but laziness and a little mawkish sensibility." but i bet he'd dig the sopranos, too. (quote comes via this paper that compares the history of video rental stores of the 20th and 21st centuries and the circulating libraries of the 18th and 19th centuries. très cool.)