“There was something she found intensely attractive about a man with a thirst for knowledge. Marc's obsessive love of books had been--she realized now--a huge part of his appeal....”

“She says I ought to throw out at least two books for every one I buy. I had new bookshelves put up in the cottage after moving in, but already the to-be-read pile is mounting on to floor of the spare room.”

“He was never lonely, not with his books for company. Books never complained, never asked awkward questions.”

“He loved the smell and feel of old books. To hold them was to touch the past.”

“Readers came and went, only the books stayed forever.”

“Seldom happier than when I'm on my own, lost in a book.”

“Whatever the reasons, we never allow anyone else to know the whole of our personal history. I suppose we're afraid of what they might think of us. But there's more to it than that. We are terrified of what they might do with the knowledge.”