Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading

"I wanted to live among books."

"I don't remember ever feeling lonely; in fact, on the rare occasions when I met other children I found their games and their talk far less interesting than the adventures and dialogues I read in my books."

"At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader."

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

"Readers are bullied in schoolyards and in locker-rooms as much as in government offices and prisons."