And for at least that moment, I wouldn't have traded the hundreds of books I've read for the few I know almost by heart.

Hollywood isn't a place, it's a way of life.

Standing there, staring at the long shelves crammed with books, I felt myself relax and was suddenly at peace.

If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.

I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to.

I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.

I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.