The community of the Giver had achieved at such great price. A community without danger or pain. But also, a community without music, color or art. And books.

Writing is self employment, so you can make your own schedule.

It's just that... without the memories it's all meaningless.

You eat canned tuna fish and you absorb protein. Then, if you're lucky, someone give you Dover Sole and you experience nourishment. It's the same with books.

And here in this room, I re-experience the memories again and again it is how wisdom comes and how we shape our future.

His mind reeled. Now, empowered to ask questions of utmost rudeness-and promised answers-he could, conceivably (though it was almost unimaginable), ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps: "Do you lie?" But he would have no way of knowing if the answer he received was true.

As a shy, introverted, scholarly child (long ago) I don't know what I would have done without libraries! My family moved often. I was always the new kid in town. The library always offered me my first and most important friendship: the place where I felt right at home. I still feel that way today, about libraries.