“As we rose over the rooftops I caught my breath-well, if you can catch your breath underwater.”

“All good writing is like swimming underwater and holding your breath.”

“It's like swimming, underwater, this whole year. I just close my eyes. hold my breath, and keep kicking.”

“I felt something catch in my throat, a sudden surge of sadness that caught me unaware, almost taking my breath away. That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of something being gone. Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you and it just hits you all over again, that shocking.”

“You are the pinch in my heart. The catch in my breath. The reason my stomach tumbles...”

“You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames.”