“escape is never further than the nearest book”

“Mother used to say escape is never further than the nearest book. Well, Mumsy, no, not really. Your beloved large-print sagas of rags, riches, and heartbreak were no camouflage against the miseries trained on you by the tennis ball launcher of life, were they? But, yes, Mum, there again, you have a point. Books don’t offer real escape, but they can stop a mind scratching itself raw.”

“Books don't offer real escape, but they can stop a mind scratching itself raw.”

“But you have read Madame Bovary?' (I'd never heard of her books.) 'No.”

“A book you finish reading is not the same book it was before you read it.”

“... in a cycle as old as tribalism, ignorance of the Other engenders fear; fear engenders hatred; hatred engenders violence; violence engenders further violence until the only "rights", the only law, are whatever is willed by the most powerful.”

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”