This Is How Reading Is Supposed to Go

The beatings our books take in the process [of reading them]—it's a beautiful sight. It's a sign they are doing their job. It's evidence of accumulated hours and hopefully much wisdom, too. It's the highest praise you can give an author—to really engage with the material, to make it your own, to have a real two-sided conversation.

Books are made to be broken in. They are mines to be dug, wells to be drawn from, sturdy posts to lean on, shoulders to cry on.