“He doesn't understand that books don't get used up. I've tried to explain that they aren't like clothes or furniture - that we keep them because we might want to read them again. And because they remind us of how we felt when we read them.”

“She can't understand that books don't get used up. I've tried to explain that they aren't like clothes or furniture-that we keep them because we might want to read them again. And because they remind us of how we felt when we read them.”

“She was like a farmer who keeps horses in order to haul away the manure that they generate.”

“He could not do most things, and what he could do, he did. But William had always been capable of many things. The stress of choice had weighed on him.”

“Life meant reducing expectations and making-do with what one had.”

“... and because they were fond of reading, she fancied them satirical: perhaps without exactly knowing what it was to be satirical; but that did not signify. It was censure in common use, and easily given.”

“May we take my uncle's letter to read to her? Take whatever you like, and get away.”