The Bookish Life of Nina Hill Quotes

“Being with you is as good as being alone.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“People were... exhausting. They made her anxious. Leaving her apartment every morning was the turning over of a giant hourglass, the mental energy she’d stored up overnight eroding grain by grain. She refueled during the day by grabbing moments of solitude and sometimes felt her life was a long-distance swim between islands of silence.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“It also meant she thought of books as medication and sanctuary and the source of all good things. Nothing yet had proven her wrong.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Do you know the best feeling in the world?" "Uh..." Nina shook her head, despite having some ideas. Liz glowed. "It's reading a book, loving every second of it, then turning to the front and discovering that the writer wrote fourteen zillion others.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Nina had looked around and realized she would never run out of things to read, and that certainty filled her with peace and satisfaction. It didn't matter what hit the fan; as long as there were unread books in the world, she would be fine.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Some people take energy; some people give energy . . . Occasionally, you get lucky and find someone whose energy balances your own and brings you into neutral.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“It contained Nina's favorite saying: You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Reading isn't the only thing in the world, Nina."
"It's one of the only five perfect things in the world."
"And the other four are?"
"Cats, dogs, Honeycrisp apples and coffee.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“She enjoyed people—she really did—she just needed to take them in homeopathic doses; a little of the poison was the cure.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Being surrounded by books was the closest she'd ever gotten to feeling like the member of a gang. The books had her back, and the nonfiction, at least, was ready to fight if necessary.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“If you're not scared, you're not brave.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Tomorrow would be better. At the very least, tomorrow would be different.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Mystery readers were everywhere, voracious, highly partisan, and passionate. They were among the store’s best customers, and unfailingly polite. In private they embraced a bloodthirsty desire for vengeance and the use of arcane poisons and sneaky sleuthing, but in public they were charming and generous. Romance readers tended to be fun and have strong opinions. Nonfiction readers asked a lot of questions and were easily amused. It was the serious novel folks and poetry fans you had to watch out for.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Nina worried she liked being alone too much; it was the only time she ever fully relaxed. People were . . . exhausting. They made her anxious. Leaving her apartment every morning was the turning over of a giant hourglass, the mental energy she’d stored up overnight eroding grain by grain. She refueled during the day by grabbing moments of solitude and sometimes felt her life was a long-distance swim between islands of silence. She enjoyed people—she really did—she just needed to take them in homeopathic doses; a little of the poison was the cure.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Biology is not destiny. And love is not proportionate to shared DNA.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Oh my God, she thought, it's hard to be human sometimes, with the pressure to be civilized lying only very thinly over the brain of a nervous little mammal. Maybe other people's layer of civilization was thicker than hers; hers was like a peel-off face mask after it had been peeled.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“You do realize it isn't mandatory to live your life online, right? For thousands of years we managed to be miserable or joyful in private. You can still do it.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Then don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow, baby. Don’t worry about how it might go wrong; just let yourself be happy.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Happiness is having your own library card. —SALLY BROWN, PEANUTS”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Nina was enjoying the book; the writing was beautiful, the characters were real, the situations were bittersweet, but it was after an hour or so of reading that she came across a line that struck her so forcefully she had to close the book for a moment: "I'm lonely, " the young character Ulysses said, "and I don't know what I'm lonely for.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Surely her purpose in life wasn’t simply to read as many books as possible?”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Nina looked down and smiled. She’d never felt more at home than she did at Knight’s, with the plentiful sarcasm and soothing rows of book spines. It was heaven on earth. Now, if they could only get rid of the customers and lock the front doors, they’d really be onto something.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“I have lots of favorite books because I have lots of moods and I have a favorite book for every mood.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Coming out of a book was always painful.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Nina could tell from his tone of voice that her new nephew was a morning person, that despicable breed.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Nothing. The first thing you should always do is nothing.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“...because when she had nothing to do, reading is what she did.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Life tends toward chaos, sadly. I thought I had my life all planned out nicely, and then... everything changed completely. It's all very well to have a plan - its a good idea - but you have to be able to walk away from it if you need to.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Life will throw you major curveballs, but it’s rare you can do much more than duck.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Are you sure?” Liz looked worried. “I mean, I get that the universe whirls in mysterious yada yada, but wouldn’t you rather travel the world?”

“No, I’d rather stay home and read.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill