“Reading Chekhov, I felt not happy, exactly, but as close to happiness as I knew I was likely to come. And it occurred to me that this was the pleasure and mystery of reading, as well as the answer ...”

“Ive always found that the better the book Im reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter.”

“With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact its essential to slow down and read every word. Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly...”

“[Referring to passage by Alice Munro] Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers -- namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, ma...”

“A neighbor once told me he had trouble with Garca Mrquezs novel because he likes to drink while he reads, and 'The Autumn of the Patriarch' gave him no space in which to take a sip of his beer.”

“Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.”

“If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave.”

“There is the heat of Love, the pulsing rush of Longing, the lovers whisper, irresistiblemagic to make the sanest man go mad.”

“Come then, put away your sword in its sheath, and let us two go up into my bed so that, lying together in the bed of love, we may then have faith and trust in each other.”

“Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's any less true.”

“Oh, Sweetie. No one ever gets through their TBR list. For every book you finish, you'll add five more. That's just the way it works.”

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”