I have no feelings of guilt regarding the books I have not read and perhaps will never read; I know that my books have unlimited patience. They will wait for me till the end of my days.

Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they are granted.

Each book was a world unto itself, and in it I took refuge.

As readers, we have gone from learning a precious craft whose secret was held by a jealous few, to taking for granted a skin that has become subordinate to principles of mindless financial profit or mechanical efficiency, a skill for which governments care almost nothing.

My books hold between their covers every story I've ever known and still remember, or have now forgotten, or may one day read; they fill the space around me with ancient and new voices.

Every reader has found charms by which to secure possession of a page that, by magic, becomes as if never read before, fresh and immaculate.