“The walls were lined with books, many of them in foreign languages, like insulation against the immediate present.”

“The walls of books around him, dense with the past, formed a kind of insulation against the present world and its disasters.”

“No one looks at the mountains. But they were there, making them all look silly.”

“On both sides of the highway I could see the rows of little frame houses, all alike, as if there were only one architect in the city and he had a magnificent obsession.”

“I like the sun.""Do you really? I didn't think you'd go in for simple things like sun. You're the neon type, aren't you?""If you say so.”

“Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence.”

“as if by behaving modestly and discreetly they could make the fire stay up on the mountain and die there, like an unwanted god.”