"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive."

"You must know that in any moment a decision you make can change the course of your life forever: the very next person stand behind in line or sit next to on an airplane, the very next phone call you make or receive, the very next movie you see or book you read or page you turn could be the one single thing that causes the floodgates to open, and all of the things that you’ve been waiting for to fall into place."

"Her books are always paperback; her bindings always broken. There is forever a book in her bag, if not in her hand; and every book she has read carries evidence of her, if not in a broken binding, then in a dog-eared page marked for a memorable passage. This is her journal. She is quiet, she is liberal, she is loyal, she is loving; she may not always agree with what you say but she will defend to the death your right to say it."