“All characters and events in this book are made up. If some of them seem familiar, it’s because so many of us grew up playing the same games.”
“(Regarding a twenty-questions game:)Did you know that the Russian composer Aram Katchaturian described his ‘Sabre Dance’ as no more than a button on the shirt on the body of his work? No? You’re not alone. Suppose my twenty-questions answer was that metaphorical button — would that be fair?”
“On to the library. And all through his time at the card catalog, combing the shelves, filling out the request cards, he danced a silent, flirtatious minuet of the eyes with a rosy-cheeked redhead in the biology section, pages of notes spread before her. All his life, he had had a yen for women in libraries. In a cerebral setting, the physical becomes irresistible. Also, he figured he was really more likely to meet a better or at least more compatible woman in a library than in a saloon. Ought to have singles libraries, with soups and salads, Bach and Mozart, Montaignes bound in morocco; place to sip, smoke, and seduce in a classical setting, noon to midnight. Chaucer's Salons, call them, franchise chain.”