The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

by Gabrielle Zevin

it is better to be alone than to be with someone who doesn’t share your sensibilities and interests.

They had only ever discussed books but what, in this life, is more personal than books?

We read to know we’re not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone. We are not alone.

“We aren’t the things we collect, acquire, read. We are, for as long as we are here, only love. The things we loved. The people we loved. And these, I think these really do live on.”

There ain’t nobody in the world like book people.

I love Island Books with all my heart. I do not believe in God. I have no religion. But this to me is as close to a church as I have known in this life. It is a holy place. With bookstores like this, I feel confident in saying that there will be a book business for a very long time.