“And books, they offer one hope -- that a whole universe might open up from between the covers, and falling into that universe, one is saved.”

“I am in love with you', I responded.He laughed the most beguiling and gentle laugh.'Of course you are,' he replied. 'I understand perfectly because I'm in love with myself. The fact that I'm not tr...”

“Knowledge drifts in and out of my mind", said Lestat with a little look of honest distress and a shake of his head. "I devour it and then I lose it and sometimes I can't reach for any knowledge tha...”

“But you love books, then, Aunt Queen was saying. I had to listen.Oh, yes, Lestat said. Sometimes they are the only thing that keeps me alive.What a strange thing to say at your age, she laughed.No,...”

“And do stop trying to determine if I am a man or a woman. The fact is I'm a good part both and therefore neither one. I was just explaining to your Aunt Queen. I was born endowed with the finest tr...”

“And this time as the lashes come, try to think about the pain, instead of against it, because there is not one single aspect of life, past, present, or future, that does not tear your reason from y...”

“The music as always had a dark sweet luster, but it was more than ever like an endless beginning-a theme ever building to a climax which would never come.”

“Oh Lestat, you deserved everything that's ever happened to you. You better not die. You might actually go to hell.”

“My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world. She was my moms sister. She got straight As when she was a teenager and she used to give me books to read. My father said that the books wer...”

“...a row of tables manned by seated, serious women. Each woman looked like she could be someone's least-favourite aunt.”

“On the big bed, Mamima and Sandeeps mother began to dream, sprawled in vivid crab-like postures. His aunt lay on her stomach, her arms bent as if she were swimming to the edge of a lake; his mother...”