There are some as are what they are. And there are some as aren't what they seem to be. And there are some as only seem to be what they seem to be.

Reading is important. Books are important. Librarians are important. (Also$$$ libraries are not child-care facilities$$$ but sometimes feral children raise themselves among the stacks.)

They were having an argument as old and comfortable as an armchair$$$ the kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go on forever$$$ if both parties are willing.

What are these fundamental principles$$$ if they are not atoms?<br/>"Stories. And they give me hope."

Are we human because we gaze at the stars$$$ or do we gaze at the stars because we are human?

While clothes do not$$$ as the saying would sometimes have it$$$ make the man$$$ and fine feathers do not make fine birds$$$ sometimes they can add a certain spice to a recipe.

She was the storm$$$ she was the lightning$$$ she was the adult world with all its power and all its secrets and all its foolish casual cruelty.

Peas baffled me. I could not understand why grown-ups would take things that tasted so good raw$$$ and then put them in tins$$$ and make them revolting.

And if there's a moral there$$$ I don't know what it is$$$ save maybe that we should take our goodbyes whenever we can.

A novel seemed the easiest way to get what I had had in my head into the inside of other people's heads. Books are good that way.