There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere.

There are times when the human face and body can express the yearning of the heart so accurately that you can, as they say, read them like a book. Do not abandon me.

Of course I loved books more than people. Of course I valued "Jane Eyre" over the anonymous stranger...Of course all of Shakespeare was worth more than a human life.

I shall start at the beginning. Though of coarse, the beginning is never where you think it is.

Though my appetite for food grew frail, my hunger for books was constant.

The hours between eight in the evening and one or two in the morning have always been my magic hours. Against the blue candlewick bedspread the white pages of my open book, illuminated by a circle of lamplight, were the gateway to another world.

I don't pretend reality is the same for everyone.