When I was in my twenties and broke, I'd buy books before food. A meal will sustain you for a few hours, a good book will sustain you for life.

Daddy once said, "If you don't know what you believe, Annie, you'll be a lost soul.

Daddy always said the only thing worth begging for was your life, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe sometimes your love is a little bit worth begging for, too.

There is no difference in quality between a life lived forward and a life lived backwards, she thinks. She had come to love this backward life. It was, after all, the only life she had.

In life, Jane reflected, the most interesting things tend to happen when you're on your way to do something else.

And when she dreams, she dreams of a girl who was lost at sea but one day found the shore.

Covers matter. In my experience, a different cover can make you think you're reading an entirely different book.