While reading 'David Copperfield' in the middle of the night - probably because of the light, I had insomnia for the first time - I looked out of the window and thought, 'If this is what books can do, this is what I want to do.'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm an insomniac, so my perfect reader is probably another insomniac.
Sometimes if I can't sleep and I am up in the night, I will start researching things - it could be an image I've seen, or a book I am reading.
When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.
The thing I'm always trying to do when I write is hit that sweet spot where the book both keeps you up late at night, and yet a week after you've finished, it still pops back into your head.
One may as well be asleep as to read for anything but to improve his mind and morals, and regulate his conduct.
There was a time when going out to parties and dinner parties and clubs was an exciting thing to do. I'd wake up in the morning and immediately think, 'Now what am I doing tonight?' Now I'd be more likely to reach for a book.
Every night, I have to read a book, so that my mind will stop thinking about things that I stress about.
Insomnia is my greatest inspiration.
I can never get to sleep without a book.
I think books that are meant to be read in the nighttime ought to confront the very fears that we're trying to think about.