“Bod was thrilled. He imagined a future in which he could read everything, in which all stories could be opened and discovered.”

“There were three of them there, then, and Amabella was introducing Bod and he was shaking hands and saying, "Charmed, I'm sure," because he could greet people politely over nine hundred years of changing manners.”

“He tried to listen to the conversations going on at the table and he found that he could no longer concentrate on what anyone was saying and which was worse that he was not interested in any of what he was able to hear.”

“Bod shrugged. "So?" he said. "It's only death. I mean, all of my best friends are dead.”

“Bod said, 'I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want,' he said, and then he paused and he thought. 'I want everything.”

“Bod quite liked crows. He thought they were funny and he liked the way they helped to keep the graveyard tidy.”

“If he walked, he discovered, he did not have to think, and that was just the way he liked it; when he thought, his mind went to places he could not control, places that made him feel uncomfortable. Exhaustion was the best thing.”