“I marveled at how they were all closed up, asleep with their secrets unseen until you reached up and took the book down from the shelf.”

“You could tell from the books whether a library was meant for show or not. Books that were used had an open, interested feel to them, even if closed and neatly lined up on a shelf in strict order with their fellows. You felt as though the book took as much interest in you as you did in it and was willing to help when you reached for it.”

“The room was as big as the Duke of Pardloe's library and had at least as many books, and yet the feeling of it was more akin to a small cluttered hole (Pardloe's)You could tell from the books whether a library was meant for show or not, Books that were usedhad an open, interested feel to them, even when closed and neatly lined up on a shelf in strict order. You felt as though the book took on as much interest in you as you did in it and it was willing you to reach for it.”

“Is that so? Trauma in Hampstead? Let me guess, catastrophic hernias from making a mistake picking up a sack of money, reaching for a book on the top shelf and being bludgeoned by a misplaced gold bar.”

“It was apparent...that, all over America, thousands of people threw down a book or got up from a television show and said, 'I can write better than that!' It was amazing how many of them were wrong.”

“From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.”