by Jen Adams
(Free Press, New York, 2012)
In this age of the e-book, part of the appeal of being given a hard copy book as a gift is its tangible timelessness.
Page xvii
Paper nooks offer a kind of permanent charm. They don`t expiree; they can`t disappear in a power surge.
Books last.
Page xvii
I believe that giving a book to a person is like giving a piece of your soul to the. You have to open yourself up to giving the person a piece of yourself, a part of your mind, and a little bit of your body.
Page 7
The book she gave me is the only method I have: a method of finding resignation my own sadness, and remembering that at some point, our love was real .
Page 13
Words are beautiful; strung together in the right sequence, they and tell us the most magnificent stories, take us to the most beautiful places, and carry our hearts to the greatest heights.
Page 22
It turns out there`s a reason actions speak louder than words: sometimes we lie to each other, and to ourselves, and we don`t even know it.
Page 27
He never wanted to voice an opinion of a ook or a writer without reading their entire life`s work, and he hated not being able to voice an opinion. So, he read.
Page 29
I am a devotee of the written word, of the printed page. Books are real.
Page 45
I only ask that time expand to let me read more, not that books contract to let me gulp them down faster.
Page 45
I kept her copy of Henry V. On occasion, I look at her handwriting to see if it still has the same effect on me. And it does.
Page 49
I learned that facts and knowledge are not understanding, and understanding is not wisdom. Books aren`t just for absorbing; they are for thinking. The gift of a book is really an attempt at a gift of thinking.
Page 61
Books were our conversation.
Page 71
My most valuable lessons from you have been the ones about life - when to let go, how to be young, how to take care of myself, how to take care of others.
Page 80
Sometimes, though, the dreamers in this world are gifted with a special kind of magic- as long as long as they keep looking for it.
Page 97
When you read the right book at the right time it becomes so much more than just a book; it becomes a symbol for that moment.
Pages 104-105
The book ate me up.
Page 106
If a book has never saved your life, you might not understand that they are not just tomes for stories, but that they can heal, can bring you back form the edge, can give you sanity.
Page 106
It`s still the book I turn to when I need to feel like home.
Page 113
I was young, wild, and trying entirely too hard to act tough.
Page 116
God, what an asshole I was.
Page 117
Yeah, it was a selfish short-lived relationship. I was never in love but enjoyed the attention of someone who clearly was. How shitty is that?
Page 117
I hated the book but liked reading it, and thinking about the conversation we would have about it.
Page 119
It might be a sign that our itme together was not meant to go beyond that summer, no matter how much we wanted it to.
Page 125
We rode the subway giddily, tongue-tied, and vaguely aware of the surrealism of lasting past our expiry date.
Page 127
We had just begun what I consider to be one of the most intimate phases of a relationship: the phase where you start sharing the books you love.
Page 128
We had an immediate, simple chemistry that trumped how little we had in common.
Page 129
The book changed me. God save the book.
Page 139
It wasn`t a romance. No hint of that. It was a friendship - a friendship between a boy and a girl who were smarter than most of those a round them.
Page 140
There is peace in books, but for me, there is no peace in that
one.
Page 143
Rilke celebrates isolation not as a jail or self-inflicted choking pain but the path to knowing the inner person. It`s not just for writers or readers. It`s for life, period.
Page 145
If only maintaining a healthy relationship was as easy as homemade macaroni and cheese …
Page 159
It`s been ten years but I haven`t read that book yet. I think I`m afraid to.
Page 166
It was many months until I discovered that what I`d seen as endearing myteriousness as simply stark confusion. Haunted and hurting, the boy I was in a relationship with was lost at sea.
Page 168
I liked reading . I loved books - their shape, their magic, the way they made me feel more alive. A book may remind me powerfully of someone, but when I describe it to them, they don`t sound interested.
Page 172
It`s only a book.
Page 174
It`s weird what you can take away from a relationship that might otherwise be called a failure.
Page 186
In high school we were clandestine friends.
Page 191
You can tell almost everything you could need to know about a person y their favorite literature.
Page 194
Why I didn`t leave him I don`t know, but I do now: you`re young, you think you`re in love, you think you love someone you`re afraid of being along, college is scary.
Page 195
Love is not exactly something flashy, but a solitary thing. It also needs to be worked at in order to thrive.
Page 197