I wanted to hear what she was saying. I wanted to smell that burnt midnight again, I wanted to feel that wind. It was a secret wanting, like a song I couldn't stop humming, or loving someone I could never have. No matter where I went, my compass pointed west. I would always know what time it was in California.

What was the point in such loneliness among people. At least if you were by yourself, you had a good reason to be lonely.

she’s not as pretty as you,” I said “But she’s a simpler girl,” my mother whispered.

A book's flaws make it less predictable.

I'm a fish swimming by...catch me if you want me.

We read so that we can be moved by a new way of looking at things.

And I thought, there was no God, there was only what you wanted.