“I can look at my books with pleasure from a distance. Four feet is close enough.”

“I don’t want to be the china doll you glued back together. I don’t want to look whole from a distance, but when you get close enough you can see all the cracks."He runs a gloved hand down my cheeks, "The cracks make us who we are."I shake my head, "We can be better than this.”

“I settled opposite him in my favorite chair, low enough that my feet can touch the floor, wide enough to curl up inside, with a little table beside it just big enough to hold a book and a coffee cup.”

“Why is it that a woman can see from a distance what a man cannot see close?”

“I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human face looking at me”

“Dropping my head I stare at the carpet, counting to four, waiting.It takes nine long seconds for her to find the courage to crawl around the couch, halting on all fours to stare at my feet, never once looking higher than my knees.”