Reading was not a fallback position for her but an ideal state of being.

Of course, she had paid for her books –most of them. Like almost every other bibliophile on the planet, Tess had books, borrowed from friends, that she had never returned, even as some of her favorite titles lingered in friends' homes, never to be seen again.

Talking about the characters in a book she had enjoyed felt like gossiping about friends.

She had always thought of it as being rich, having so many books she has yet to read.