I stood for almost an hour in a line of shuffling, bitter - eyed late mailers (Christmas is such a carefree, low - pressure time - that's one of the things I love about it).

He could feel the pores of his body open like a million mouths and slurp the water in like a sponge.

What a paragon of virtue you are, gunslinger!" the man in black laughed.

Seven, Richie thought. That's the magic number. There has to be seven of us. That's the way it's supposed to be.

To me, the greatest thing in the world is downloading TV shows on iTunes because there are no commercials, and yet if I were a working stiff, I could never afford to do this. But I don't even think about money.

A life without love is like a tree without fruit.

Jake went in, aware that he had, for the first time in three weeks, opened a door without hoping madly to find another world on the other side. A bell jingled overhead. The mild, spicy smell of old books hit him, and the smell was somehow like coming home.