“I know the names of the books - their old covers bleached to palest greens or pinks by the endless cycle of summers - lined up on the shelf.”

“There’s no two ways about it, Tolkien fans are a funny bunch. I should know, for I was one of them. Been there, done that, read the book, gone mad. I first took on The Lord of the Rings at the age of eleven or twelve; to be precise, I began it at the age of eleven and finished at the age of twelve. It was, and remains, not a book that you happen to read, like any other, but a book that happens to you: a chunk bitten out of your life.”

“When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything.”

“I didn't have time to tell Bracken to care for her. I didn't have time to tell Arturo that I knew why he was hard on me, and it was okay. I didn't have time to tell Green that he was the sun and the moon and the stars. The Goddess gave me just enough time to feel her pain, to let her know I loved her. I had just long enough to say goodbye.”

“How do you scroll down?""I don't, I turn the page. It's a book.""Do you blog with it?""No, it's a book.”

“I know. But maybe that’s what growing up gets you. You get better. You stop waiting for the bad stuff to happen and maybe enjoy the good, you know?”

“Chase was gone then, and Donnie was back, alone in his room, wondering about those pictures from an art book he'd so admired. Because it felt like he'd just lived one, and it had been beautiful, so beautiful, and he'd been able to reach out and touch the lines of it, but it still hurt.”