“Or -- and this she knew was a far more accurate way of looking at it -- the book was true and reality was lying.”

“She knew she shouldn't feel that way about a monster, but right then, she wanted nothing more than a monster of her very own.”

“A woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.”

“She stood there bright as the sun on that California coast.
He was a Midwestern boy on his own.
She looked at him with those soft eyes, so innocent and blue.
He knew right then he was too far from home.
He was too far from home.”

“This book, when I am dead, will be
A little faint perfume of me.
People who knew me well will say,
She really used to think that way.”

“She never said, "No, don't buy that trash," or "Pick a real book." She knew they were all real books. This is how great a librarian she was. And how great a mom.”

“I well knew that to propose something which would be called extreme, was the true way not to impede but to facilitate a more moderate experiment.”

“is a hundred percent accurate. Reality, however, is not as reliable.”

“She loved the smell of books, the feel of books, the look of them on the shelf.”

“A woman did what a woman had to, the best way she knew how. To do more was impossible, to do less, unthinkable.”