Books are what teach you about life. Books teach you empathy. But you can't buy books if you barely got enough to make rent. So that library is a vital resource! You shut a library, Louisa, you don't just shut down a building, you shut down hope.

Are you still with this man? On no, She sniffed. I realized pretty quickly I couldn't marry a man without a bookshelf.No bookshelf?In his house. Not even a little one in his loo for the Reader's Digest. Many people in this country don't read books.He didn't have one book. Not even a true crime. Or a Jeffrey Archer. I mean, what does that tell you about someone's character?

I wrote three books before I got one published. Most writers do. Have faith, and know that with each work you are getting better.

I have read books that are so cliched and lazy, my eyes have bled. But I also have read books marketed under the chick-lit umbrella that are so honest, clever and gritty that I've wanted to give up writing and paint walls instead.