“Mention me when they ask you what happened. I am everywhere under your feet.”

“I wasn't born in New York and I may never live there again, and just thinking about it makes me melancholy, but I was changed forever by it, my imagination is manacled to it, and I wear its mark the way you wear a scar. Whatever happens, whether I like it or not, New York City is fated always to remain my home.”

“Books entered my house under cover of night, from the four winds, smuggled in by woodland creatures, and then they never left. Books collected on every surface; I believe that somehow they managed to breed”

“I realize that books are not the entire world, even if they sometimes seemto contain it. But I need the stupid things.”

“Actually, no. I may be inexperienced compared to your other women, but I'm not naive, nor am I stupid. It occurred to me this morning. You've known me for two years and never so much as asked me to coffee and then all of a sudden, you want access to my panties.'I like your panties,' he said with a feral grin.Ethan! Be serious.”

“This be OK?' I asked, innocently.'You want me to have no skin left?' You rolled your eyes.Actually, don't answer that one.”

“I stayed there, curled up into the warmth of your body, under the blankets, like something soft in a shell. Your arms were firm as rock around me.”