The Lost Book of the Grail
by Charlie Lovett
(Alma Books, Surrey, 2017)
He rode to the third floor of the humanities building in a lift that somehow managed to seem simultaneously sterile and unsanitary.
Page 8.
We teach a seminar in this department called ‘Anagnorisis in the Existential Hogwarts’, but we do not teach a seminar on Shakespeare.
Page 9.
The library smelt substantial; it smelt of both life and death.
Page 16.
He didn’t feel God in the library, but he felt something beyond himself.
Page 17.
Unlike paper, vellum was extremely difficult to tear.
Page 23.
Truth is not as simple as I supposed.
Page 27.
The purpose of a library is to disseminate information.
Page 48.
A book that no one wants to read today may be essential for someone in the future. So we save them, we protect them.
Page 48.
Libraries exist for the active sharing of information.
Page 49.
Libraries exist to preserve culture.
Page 49.
Books are safe online.
Page 49.
Text is text, but that’s not the same as saying books are books whether physical or digital.
Page 49.
A library is like an art museum where you’re allowed to touch the paintings and embrace the sculpture, run your fingers across every brushstroke and chisel mark.
Page 49.
The smell of a book can tell you more than you think.
Page 50.
The computer made it easy to find what you were looking for, but I never knew what I was looking for. The card catalogue had given me serendipity.
Page 50.
Her vision of the future depressed him, but he admired her ability to make her case.
Page 56.
“The gifts of God are rarely what we expect.”
Page 62.
You like talking to me. It allows you to be righteously indignant, and that’s your favourite state of being.
Page 70.
There is a difference between the blush of anger and the blush of affection.
Page 75.
It’s a true friend who sacrifices his dignity for the amusement of his walking companion.
Page 85.
Reading without books … was like playing cricket without dressing in white. It could be done, but why?
Page 91.
“Oh, my Lord in heaven.”
“Please don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.”
“I didn’t take his name in vain - only his address.”
Page 114.
The wonder of Barchester Cathedral to Arthur was the way it connected him to a thousand years of the past.
Page 139.
In his unbelief, he thought much more about the political and artistic history of the cathedral than about the fact that, for more than a millennium, people of faith had poured forth that faith on this spot. Tonight, Arthur felt as if he were swimming in a pool of that ancient belief.
Page 139.
A single parchment could so easily be lost or destroyed, but a book even an ancient and tattered book, was a thing of value.
Page 153.
Symbolism, in my opinion, is overrated.
Page 168.
Arthur opened to his bookmark, pressed his nose into the book and inhaled deeply.
Page 175.
“Just because I don’t believe in God doesn’t mean that I don’t want to.”
Page 184.
The Grail is about faith.
Page 215.
How the hell could she do this? Make him be in love with her one moment and infuriate himt he next.
Page 230.
Arthur had never imagined that guilt and relief could be so intertwined.
Page 230.
Love, he thought, was a mist inconvenient emotion.
Page 241.
A guy doesn’t take a girl for a walk in the countryside and then to a romantic old ruin, and then to the top of a crumbling wall, unless he has something pretty important to say.
Page 243.
Doubt is what makes belief and love gritty and dirty and complicated and worthwhile and life-changing.
Page 268.
“Faith doesn’t replace reason … Faith begins where reason leaves off.”
Page 268.
He doubted the nature of the Eucharist, but he also respected it. He was deeply moved by what it meant to those around him.
Page 269.
There was so much to say that Arthur found it easier to say nothing.
Page 285.
Some people are just wired to need proof.
Page 286.
Coming to the end of a journey, he thought, was a funny thing. You never knew when the end might come or how it might affect you.
Page 286.
I think about her sometimes and wonder if I chose well, but I’ve lived with my choice, and that’s enough.
Page 299.
Dangers come from unexpected places.
Page 300.